GOLD PRICE CLOSED: UP $1.25 TO $2058.75

SILVER PRICE CLOSED: DOWN 14 cents AT $24.16

Access prices: closes 4: 15 PM

Gold ACCESS CLOSED 2067/25

Silver ACCESS CLOSED: 24.22

Shanghai gold closed last night at or $2084.82 /oz

Shanghai Gold Benchmark Gold Price in USD – AM Fix

SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM OVER NY: 25 DOLLARS

Bitcoin morning price:, 42,771 DOWN 1011 DOLLARS

Bitcoin: afternoon price: $42,133 DOWN 1649 dollars

Platinum price closing $980.40 UP $2.65

Palladium price; $1177.75 DOWN $3-.85

END

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Due to the huge rise in the dollar, we must look at gold and silver in currencies other than the dollar to understand where we are heading

I will now provide gold in Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros

4: 15 PM ACCESS

*CANADIAN GOLD: $2,728.34 UP $5.34 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,795.90 CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//DEC 1 272023)

*BRITISH GOLD: 1624.17 UP 7.70 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1655.17 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) OCT 2/2023

*EURO GOLD: 1872.00 UP 8.05 euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 1903.75 EUROS PER OZ//DEC 1.2023)

DONATE

Click here if you wish to send a donation. I sincerely appreciate it as this site takes a lot of preparation

EXCHANGE: COMEX

EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: DECEMBER 2023 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 2,057.100000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 12/22/2023 DELIVERY DATE: 12/27/2023
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED

435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 147
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 14
661 C JP MORGAN 166
737 C ADVANTAGE 19 11
905 C ADM 6 3
991 H CME 16

TOTAL: 191 191
MONTH TO DATE: 15,049

JPMorgan stopped 0/191 contracts.

FOR DEC.:

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR DEC/2023. CONTRACT: 191 NOTICES FOR 19,100 OZ or 0.5940 TONNES

total notices so far: 15,049 contracts for 1,504,900 oz (46.808 tonnes)

FOR DEC:

SILVER NOTICES 17 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 85,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 3891 for 19,455,000 oz

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Click here if you wish to send a donation. I sincerely appreciate it as this site takes a lot of preparation

END

BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES

GLD

WITH GOLD UP $1.25//

INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ : / NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: //

INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.25 TONNES

SLV//

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS AT THE SLV// HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: V/ A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.465 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV//

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.

CLOSING INVENTORY: 439.639 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI FRLL BY A SMALL SIZED 187 CONTRACTS TO 130,772 AND FURTHER FORM THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS SMALL SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR LOSS OF $0.00 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON FRIDAY. WE HAD A ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION WITH CONSIDERABLE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION (AND SOME SHORT COVERING BUT AT TOUCH LOWER PRICES) AT THE COMEX SESSION. WE HAD A STRONG 550 T.A.S ISSUANCE AND THESE WILL BE USED FOR MANIPULATION LATER THIS MONTH/AS WELL AS TODAY.

CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT THAT THE CROOKS USE THE MID MONTH FOR MANIPULATION AS THEY SELL THEIR BUY SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD FIRST AND THEN KEEP THE SELL SIDE TO LIQUIDATE AT A LATER DATE. THUS WE HAVE TWO VEHICLES THE CROOKS USE FOR MANIPULATION AND BOTH ARE SPREADERS: 1) AT MONTH’S END/SPREADERS COMEX AND 2/ TAS SPREADERS, MID MONTH. TOTAL TAS ISSUED ON FRIDAY NIGHT: 550 CONTRACTS. DESPITE MANY COMPLAINTS THAT THE CROOKS HAVE VIOLATED POSITION LIMITS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE TAS ISSUED HAVE A VALUE OF ZERO (AS TO POSITION LIMITS FOR OUR CROOKED BANKERS). THE PROBLEM OF COURSE IS THAT THE CROOKS DO NOT LIQUIDATE THE TAS TOGETHER BUT SELL THE BUY SIDE FIRST AND THEN LIQUIDATE THE SELL SIDE TWO MONTHS HENCE. IT IS OBVIOUS MANIPULATION TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE BUT IT NATURALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS WITH OUR REGULATORS (OCC) WHEN THEY RECEIVED OUR COMPLAINTS. IT THUS LOOKS LIKE THE FED (GOV’T) IS BEHIND ALL OF THESE TRADES.

WE HAVE NOW SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 114,102 CONTRACTS ///JULY 3.2023// OUR BANKERS WITH THE HELP OF SPECULATORS AND HIGH FREQUENCY TRADERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL BY $0.00), AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 265 OI CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

WE MUST HAVE HAD:

A STRONG SIZED 550 ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 1,5 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE) FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 130,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP + 0 CONTRACTS OF EX. FOR RISK FOR 0 MILLION OZ EX. FOR RISK //NEW TOTAL STANDING 20.280 MILLION OZ.+0 MILLION OZ (EX. FOR RISK TODAY) + 6.5 MILLION EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR= NEW TOTAL OF 26.780 MILLION OZ

//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 26.780 MILLION OZ

//TINY SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/ GOOD SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 550 CONTRACTS)/

0 CONTRACT EX.FOR RISK =0 MILLION OZ//NEW TOTAL FOR EX. FOR RISK + 6.5 MILLION OZ.

I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL – REMOVED – 252 CONTRACTS (the cme will no longer provide preliminary no to be except through a paywall)

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS DEC. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF DEC:

TOTAL CONTRACTS for 17 days, total 12,721 contracts: OR 63.605MILLION OZ (748 CONTRACTS PER DAY)

TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 63.605 MILLION OZ

LAST 23 MONTHS TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED IN MILLIONS OF OZ:

MAY 137.83 MILLION

JUNE 149.91 MILLION OZ

JULY 129.445 MILLION OZ

AUGUST: MILLION OZ 140.120

SEPT. 28.230 MILLION OZ//

OCT: 94.595 MILLION OZ

NOV: 131.925 MILLION OZ

DEC: 100.615 MILLION OZ

YEAR 2022:

JAN 2022-DEC 2022

JAN 2022// 90.460 MILLION OZ

FEB 2022: 72.39 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 2022: 207.140 MILLION OZ//A NEW RECORD FOR EFP ISSUANCE

APRIL: 114.52 MILLION OZ FINAL//LOW ISSUANCE

MAY: 105.635 MILLION OZ//

JUNE: 94.470 MILLION OZ

JULY : 87.110 MILLION OZ

AUGUST: 65.025 MILLION OZ

SEPT. 74.025 MILLION OZ///FINAL

OCT. 29.017 MILLION OZ FINAL

NOV: 134.290 MILLION OZ//FINAL

DEC, 61.395 MILLION OZ FINAL

TOTALS YR 2022: 1135.767 MILLION OZ (1.1356 BILLION OZ)

JAN 2023/// 53.070 MILLION OZ //FINAL

FEB: 2023: 100.105 MILLION OZ/FINAL//MUCH STRONGER ISSUANCE VS THE LATTER TWO MONTHS.

MARCH 2023: 112.58 MILLION OZ//FINAL//STRONG ISSUANCE

APRIL 118.035 MILLION OZ(SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN THAN LAST MONTH)

MAY 66.120 MILLION OZ/INITIAL (MUCH SMALLER THIS MONTH)

JUNE: 110.395 MILLION OZ//MUCH LARGER THAN LAST MONTH

JULY 85.745 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)

AUGUST: 171.43 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE HUGE //2ND HIGHEST ON RECORD

SEPT: 72.705 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THIS MONTH)

OCT: 97.455 MILLION OZ

NOV. 50.050 MILLION OZ

DEC. 63.605 MILLION OZ//THIS IS GOING TO BE A STRONG ISSUANCE OF EFP’S FOR THIS MONTH.

RESULT: WE HAD A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 187 CONTRACTS WITH OUR ZERO GAIN IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//FRIDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A STRONG EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 452 ISSUED FOR FEB AND 0 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX TO LONDON AS FORWARDS. WE HAVE A GOOD INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR DEC. OF 18.755 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 35,000 OZ E.F.P JUMP TO LONDON /NEW TOTAL STANDING 20.280MILLION OZ//+0 MILLION EX. FOR RISK TODAY + 6.5 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK/PRIOR//NEW TOTAL 26.780 MILLION OZ.

NEW STANDING 26.780 million OZ /// WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 265 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES WITH THE ZERO GAIN IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A STRONG SIZED 550 CONTRACTS//CONSIDERABLE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE FRIDAY COMEX SESSION. THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE FRIDAY NIGHT (550 WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE., .

WE HAD 17 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 85,000 OZ

THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.

GOLD//OUTLINE

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A VERY STRONG SIZED 10,230 CONTRACTS TO 492,305 AND CLOSER TO RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,733 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110.

THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY: -removed 209 CONTRACTS

WE HAD A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI ( 3630 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $17.85 GAIN IN PRICE//FRIDAY. WE ALSO HAD A RATHER LIGHT INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR DEC.. AT 44.914 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 17,300 OZ QUEUE JUMP + 0 ISSUANCE OF EX. FOR RISK CONTRACTS // TOTAL GOLD STANDING FOR DEC SO FAR INCREASES TO 51.545 TONNES // ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $17.85 GAIN IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 14,069 OI CONTRACTS (43.76) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 3630 CONTRACTS:

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 492,096

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 13,860 CONTRACTS WITH 10,230 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 3630 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 13,860 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 0 CONTRACTS EXCHANGE FOR RISK TODAYFOR 0.0 TONNES/EX FOR RISK PRIOR = 4.634 TOTAL //NEW TOTAL STANDING 46.911 TONNES + 4.634 TONNES= 51.545 TONNES.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A FAIR 2202 CONTRACTS.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (3630 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE VERY STRONG SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (10,230) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 13,860 CONTRACTS. WE HAVE ( 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR FORMER FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING LONG AND SPECULATORS GOING SHORT ,2.) FAIR INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR DEC. AT 44.914 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 17,300 OZ QUEUE JUMP + 4.634 TONNES EX. FOR RISK PRIOR//NEW STANDING 51.545 TONNES / / 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AND CONSIDERABLE TAS LIQUIDATION WITH HUGE SHORT LIQUIDATION (COVERING) 4) VERY STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST GAIN/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: FAIR T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 2202 CONTRACTS

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023 INCLUDING TODAY

DEC

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF DEC. :

TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 63,009 CONTRACTS OR 6,300,900 OZ OR 195.98 TONNES IN 17 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3706 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 17 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 195.98TONNES

TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 195.98/3550 x 100% TONNES 5.52% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2021 TO 2023

JANUARY/2021: 265.26 TONNES (RAPIDLY INCREASING AGAIN)

FEB : 171.24 TONNES ( DEFINITELY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN)..

MARCH:. 276.50 TONNES (STRONG AGAIN/

APRIL: 189..44 TONNES ( DRAMATICALLY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN//GOLD IN BACKWARDATION)

MAY: 250.15 TONNES (NOW DRAMATICALLY INCREASING AGAIN)

JUNE: 247.54 TONNES (FINAL)

JULY: 188.73 TONNES FINAL

AUGUST: 217.89 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE.

SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_

OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)

NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP

DEC. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//

TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021

JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL

FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL

MARCH/2022: 409.30 TONNES //FINAL( THIS IS NOW A RECORD EFP ISSUANCE FOR MARCH AND FOR ANY MONTH.

APRIL: 169.55 TONNES (FINAL VERY LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)

MAY: 247.44 TONNES FINAL//

JUNE: 238.13 TONNES FINAL

JULY: 378.43 TONNES FINAL

AUGUST: 180.81 TONNES FINAL

SEPT. 193.16 TONNES FINAL

OCT: 177.57 TONNES FINAL ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)

NOV. 223.98 TONNES//FINAL ( MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUS MONTHS//comex running out of physical)

DEC: 185.59 tonnes // FINAL

TOTAL: 2,847,25 TONNES/2022

JAN 2023: 228.49 TONNES FINAL//HUGE AMOUNT OF EFP’S ISSUED THIS MONTH!!

FEB: 151.61 TONNES/FINAL

MARCH: 280.09 TONNES/INITIAL (ANOTHER STRONG MONTH FOR EFP ISSUANCE)

APRIL: 197.42 TONNES

MAY: 236.67 TONNES (A VERY STRONG ISSUANCE FOR THIS MONTH)

JUNE: 172.667 TONNES (WEAKER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)

JULY: 151.69 TONNES (WEAKER THAN LAST MONTH)

AUGUST: 195.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)//FINAL

SEPT: 254.709 TONNES (WILL BE LARGER THAN LAST MONTH AND A STRONG MONTH)

OCT. 248.09 TONNES. LIKE SILVER, THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE A STRONG E.F.P. ISSUANCE.

NOV. 239.16 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH,

DEC. 195.98 TONNES. A STRONG MONTH//

SPREADING OPERATIONS

(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS

SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF DEC. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF GOLD

HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB., FOR GOLD: AND MARCH FOR SILVER

YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (SEPT), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”

WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.

The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.

First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:

1.Today, we had the open interest at the comex, in SILVER FELL BY A FAIR SIZED 187 CONTRACTS OI TO 130,772 AND CLOSER TO THE COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710(SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 5 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023

EFP ISSUANCE 452 CONTRACTS

OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:

MARCH 452 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 452 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 65 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 452 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 265 CONTRACTS

THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 1.325 MILLION OZ

OCCURRED WITH OUR $.00 LOSS IN PRICE …..

END

OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY

1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

(report Harvey)

b, ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,//GOLD COMMENTARIES

(Peter Schiff)

c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens

ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries

b. Other gold/silver commentaries

c. Commodity commentaries//

d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC

2.ASIAN AFFAIRS//

TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 19.93 PTS OR 0.63% //Hang Seng CLOSED /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 51.82 PTS OR 0.16% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN AT 7.1442 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.1448 /Oil DOWN TO 74.11 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 79.56/ Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER

A)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA

outline

b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE

3 CHINA
OUTLINE

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE

6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
OUTLINE

7. OIL ISSUES
OUTLINE

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
9. USA

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS

GOLD

LET US BEGIN:

THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A VERY STRONG SIZED 10,230 CONTRACTS TO 492,096 WITH OUR HUGE GAIN IN PRICE OF $17.85 WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY TRADING. WE MUST HAVE HAD ZERO LONG SPEC LIQUIDATIONS IN THE COMEX SESSION WITH CONSIDERABLE SPEC SHORT COVERINGS DURING FRIDAY’S RISE IN PRICE.

EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE

WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF DEC..… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,

THAT IS 3630 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : FEB 3630 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 3630 CONTRACTS

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A HUGE SIZED TOTAL OF 13,860 CONTRACTS IN THAT 3630 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A VERY STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 10,230 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS HUGE GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $17.85//FRIDAY COMEX. AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR FRIDAY NIGHT WAS A FAIR SIZED 2202 CONTRACTS. THROUGHOUT THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, THE BANKERS SOLD OFF THE LONG SIDE OF THE SPREAD WHICH OF COURSE CONTINUES TO MANIPULATE THE PRICE OF GOLD SOUTHBOUND. (THEY KEEP THE SHORT SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD WHICH WILL BE LIQUIDATED TWO MONTHS HENCE)//.

// WE HAVE A LIGHT AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: DEC (51.545 TONNES) ( ACTIVE MONTH)

HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 12 MONTHS OF 2021-2022:

DEC 2021: 112.217 TONNES

NOV. 8.074 TONNES

OCT. 57.707 TONNES

SEPT: 11.9160 TONNES

AUGUST: 80.489 TONNES

JULY: 7.2814 TONNES

JUNE: 72.289 TONNES

MAY 5.77 TONNES

APRIL 95.331 TONNES

MARCH 30.205 TONNES

FEB ’21. 113.424 TONNES

JAN ’21: 6.500 TONNES.

TOTAL YEAR 2021 (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES

YEAR 2022:

JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES

FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES

MARCH: 36.678 TONNES

APRIL: 85.340 TONNES FINAL.

MAY: 20.11 TONNES FINAL

JUNE: 74.933 TONNES FINAL

JULY 29.987 TONNES FINAL

AUGUST:104.979 TONNES//FINAL

SEPT. 38.1158 TONNES

OCT: 77.390 TONNES/ FINAL

NOV 27.110 TONNES/FINAL

Dec. 64.000 tonnes

(TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)

2023:

JAN/2023: 20.559 tonnes

FEB 2023: 47.744 tonnes

MAR: 19.0637 TONNES

APRIL: 75.676 tonnes

MAY: 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 tonnes of exchange for risk = 20.338

JUNE: 64.354 TONNES

JULY: 10.2861 TONNES

AUGUST: 38.855 TONNES(INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)

SEPT: 15.281 TONNES FINAL

OCT. 35.869 TONNES + 1.665 EXCHANGE FOR RISK =37.0355 tonnes

NOV: 18.7122 TONNES + 16.2505 EX. FOR RISK = 34.9627 TONNES

DEC. 46.911 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.545TONNES

THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT GAINED $17.85) //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 13,860 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES. WE HAD A FAIR T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF THURSDAY’S TRADING . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON FRIDAY NIGHT, WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS. WE ALSO EXPERIENCED CONSIDERABLE SPECULATOR SHORT COVERING

WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 43.760 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR DEC. (44.914 TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE, FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 17,300 OZ QUEUE JUMP (FOR 0.5381 TONNES)//NEW TOTAL STANDING FALLS TO 46.911 + 4.634 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK : NEW TOTAL 51.545 TONNES../ ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $17.85.

WE HAD -removed 209 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 13,860 CONTRACTS OR 1,386,000 OZ OR 43.110 TONNES.

Estimated gold volume today:// 70,509 dreadful

final gold volumes/yesterday 181,673 poor

//speculators have left the gold arena

DEC 26

/ /// THE DEC. 2023 GOLD CONTRACT

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	nil OZ .
Deposit to the Dealer* Inventory in oz*	nil
Deposits to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	nil oz
No of oz served (contracts) today	191 notice(s) 19,100 OZ 0.5970 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	33 contracts 3300 oz 0.1026 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	15,049 notices 1,504,900 oz 46.808 TONNES
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers* inventory this month*	NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer* inventory this month*	x

0 dealer deposit:

total dealer deposits: nil oz

customer deposits: 0

we had 0 withdrawals

total withdrawals nil oz

Adjustments; 1

out of Brinks: 6462.351 oz or 201 kilobars)

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DEC.

For the front month of DECEMBER we have an oi of 224 contracts having GAINED 21 contracts. We had 152

contracts served upon FRIDAY, so we GAINED or an additional 173 CONTRACTS OR 17,300 OZ (0.5381 tonnes) will stand for delivery at the comex.

JAN. GAINED 5 contracts RISING TO 3202 contracts.

FEB GAINED 9333 CONTRACTS RISING TO 377,633

We had 191 contracts filed for today representing 19,100 oz

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 166 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 191 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 0 notice(s) was (were) stopped ( received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account and 0 notice(s) received (stopped) by the squid (Goldman Sachs)

To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the DEC. /2023. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (15,049 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC. (224 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 191 x 100 oz per contract equals 1,508,200 OZ OR 46.911 TONNES + 4.634 TONNES EX. FOR RISK ISSUED/PRIOR/ (FOR DELIVERY HERE) = 50.85 TONNES.

thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the DEC. contract month: No of notices filed so far (15,049) x 100 oz + (224) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (191) x 100 oz) which equals 1,508,200 oz standing OR 46.911 TONNES + 4.634 tonnes of ex. for risk = 51.545 TONNES

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR DEC: 51.545 TONNES WHICH IS LIGHT FOR THE BIGGEST ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR. THEY PROBABLY KNOW THAT NO REAL GOLD IS PRESENT AT THE COMEX.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION

NEW PLEDGED GOLD:

241,794.285 oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 5.94 TONNES

204,937.290 PLEDGED MANFRA 3.08 TONNES

83,657.582 PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690 tonnes

265,999.054, oz JPM No 2

1,152,376.639 oz pledged Brinks/

Manfra: 33,758.550 oz

Delaware: 193.721 oz

International Delaware:: 11,188.542 oz

total pledged gold: 1,571,592.770 OZ 48.88 tonnes

TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 20,041,014.732 OZ

TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 10,252,592.558 (318,89 tonnes).

TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 9,788,422.174 OZ

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 8,681.000 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 270,01 tonnes

END

SILVER/COMEX

DEC 26

//2023// THE DEC 2023 SILVER CONTRACT

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	2,055.801 oz oz Delaware .
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nil OZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	624,037.389 oz Brinks Delaware
No of oz served today (contracts)	17 CONTRACT(S) (85,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	165 contracts (825,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	3891 Contracts (19,455,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers* inventory this month*	NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer* inventory this month*

i) 0 dealer deposit

total dealer deposit: nil oz

i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal

total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz

We had 2 deposits customer account:

i)Into Brinks 608,863.091 oz

ii) Into Delaware 15,174.299 oz

total customer deposits: 624,037.389 oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 133.1390 million oz/275.537 million or 48.36%

Comex withdrawals 1

i) Out of Delaware 2066.800 oz

total withdrawals 2066.800 oz

Adjustments; 5 all dealer to customer

i) Brinks 298,266.345 oz

ii) HSBC 5189.610 oz

iii) Int. Delaware 14,542.660 oz

iv) JPMorgan: 1,249,234.200 oz

v) Manfra 588,214.969 oz

somebody is calling for huge amt of silver

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 44.764 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 275,551 million oz

CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:

silver open interest data:

FRONT MONTH OF DEC /2023 OI: 182 CONTRACTS HAVING LOST 474 CONTRACT(S).

WE HAD 467 CONTRACTS SERVED ON FRIDAY, SO WE LOST 7 CONTRACTS OR 85,000 OZ UNDERWENT AN E.F.P. JUMP TO LONDON TAKING DELIVERY OVER AT THAT SIDE OF THE POND.

JAN LOST 39 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 1846 CONTRACTS

FEB LOST 8 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 425

MARCH GAINED 153 CONTRACTS TO 108,365.

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 17 for 85,000 oz

Comex volumes// est. volume today 24,444// DREADFUL

Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 50,337 poor

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in DEC. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 3891 x 5,000 oz = 19,455,000 oz

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC. (182) and the number of notices served upon today 17 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the standings for silver for the DEC/2023 contract month: 3891 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of DEC. (182) – number of notices served upon today (17 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the DEC contract month equates to 20.280 MILLION OZ. to which we add 0 million oz of exchange for risk today and then add prior exchange for risk of 6.5 million oz//

New total standing: 26.780 million oz.

There are 47.660 million oz of registered silver.

The record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price on that day at $18.42. The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44

END

GLD AND SLV INVENTORY LEVELS//

BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE MASSIVE FRAUDS!

DEC 26/WITH GOLD UP $1.25 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.25 TONNES

DEC 22/WITH GOLD UP $17,85 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.25 TONNES

DEC 21/WITH GOLD UP $5.10 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT .58 TONNES OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.25 TONNES

DEC 20/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.60 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 877.67 TONNES

DEC19/WITH GOLD UP $12.15 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.69 TONNES

DEC18/WITH GOLD UP $5.50 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. /A DEPOSIT OF 173 TONNES INTO THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.69 TONNES

DEC14/WITH GOLD UP $47.35 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. /A DEPOSIT OF 2.42 TONNES FROM THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 877.96 TONNES

DEC13/WITH GOLD UP $3.90 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. /A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.89 TONNES FROM THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 875,65 TONNES

DEC12/WITH GOLD DOWN $0.60 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. /A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.01 TONNES FROM THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.54 TONNES

DEC11/WITH GOLD DOWN $21.20 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. // / / // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.55 TONNES

DEC 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $30,80 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. // / / // A WITHDRAWAL OF .28 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/// INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.55 TONNES

DEC 7/WITH GOLD DOWN $.20 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.83 TONNES

DEC 6/WITH GOLD UP $11.70 TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.29 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.83 TONNES

DEC 5/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.85 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.30 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 881.12 TONNES

DEC 4/WITH GOLD DOWN $43.15 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.31 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.82 TONNES

DEC 1/WITH GOLD UP $32.05 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 876.51 TONNES

NOV 30/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.70 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.53 TONNES

NOV 29/WITH GOLD UP $7.20 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.55 TONNES

NOV 28/WITH GOLD UP $26.45 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 882.28 TONNE

NOV 27/WITH GOLD UP $9,85 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 882.28 TONNES

NOV 24/WITH GOLD UP $11.20 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 882.28 TONNES

NOV 22/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.45 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.43 TONNES

NOV 21/WITH GOLD UP $21.65 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.43 TONNES

NOV 20/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.15 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A MAMMOTH DEPOSIT OF 12.98 TONNES INTO THE GLD:/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.43 TONNES

GLD INVENTORY: 878.25 TONNES

Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them

DEC 26/WITH SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.465 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.104 MILLION OZ

DEC 22/WITH SILVER UP 0 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.289 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.104 MILLION OZ

DEC 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 2 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 443.393 MILLION OZ

DEC 20/WITH SILVER UP 28 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 443.393 MILLION OZ

DEC 19/WITH SILVER UP 27 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 2.747 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 443.393 MILLION OZ

DEC 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.794 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.646 MILLION OZ

DEC 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.00000 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.470 MILLION OZ

DEC 13/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A DEPOSIT OF 10.326 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 444.470 MILLION OZ

DEC 12/WITH SILVER DOWN 5 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 594,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.144 MILLION OZ

DEC 11/WITH SILVER DOWN 19 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.735 MILLION OZ

DEC 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 80 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A DEPOSIT OF 1.648 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.735 MILLION OZ

DEC 7/WITH SILVER DOWN 15 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: // //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.090 MILLION OZ

DEC 6/WITH SILVER DOWN 25 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: // //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.090 MILLION OZ

DEC 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 34 CENTS TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.305 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.090 MILLION OZ

DEC 4/WITH SILVER DOWN 90 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.7333 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.395 MILLION OZ

DEC 1/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.923 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.128 MILLION OZ

NOV 30/WITH SILVER UP 20 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/ //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 436.051 MILLION OZ

NOV 29/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV” A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.122 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 436.051 MILLION OZ

NOV 28/WITH SILVER UP 64 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.173 MILLION OZ

NOV 27/WITH SILVER UP 32 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV //:////A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,008,000 OZ FROM THE SLV. //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.173 MILLION OZ

NOV 24/WITH SILVER UP 70 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV //:////A WITHDRAWAL OF 549,000 OZ FROM THE SLV. //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.181 MILLION OZ

NOV 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 21 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.730 MILLION OZ

NOV 21/WITH SILVER UP 32 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 2.794 OZ FROM THE SLV//://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.730 MILLION OZ

NOV 20/WITH SILVER DOWN 26 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,824,000 OZ FROM THE SLV//://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.936 MILLION OZ

CLOSING INVENTORY 439.639 MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey

The Christmas Gift That Keeps On Taking

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 10:00 AM

Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com,

Two days before Christmas in 1923, Woodrow Wilson gave the United States a Christmas gift that keeps taking. On that day, he signed the Federal Reserve Act into law, creating the US central bank.

Since that inauspicious day, the US dollar has lost 96% of its value.

It’s no surprise that Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act just one day before Christmas Eve. It was perfect timing so the general public wouldn’t notice.

The stated purpose of the legislation was to “provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.”

In reality, it was a gift to bankers.

In an article published by the Mises Institute, George Ford Smith explained why bankers were clamoring for a central bank.

Before the Fed’s founding, bankers in general and Wall Street in particular complained about US currency’s lack of “elasticity.” “Elasticity” in this context is one of the great euphemisms of human history. According to lore, this missing feature of “hard” money, such as gold or silver, was responsible for the panics of 1873, 1884, 1893, and 1907. The supply of the coins that were behind the paper banknotes couldn’t be increased when needed. Gold and silver were therefore said to be inelastic. Because of this inelasticity, the legend persisted that banks were having trouble meeting the demand for farm loans at harvest time, as G. Edward Griffin explains in The Creature from Jekyll Island:

“To supply those funds, the country banks had to draw down their cash reserves which generally were deposited with the larger city banks. This thinned out the reserves held in the cities, and the whole system became more vulnerable. Actually, that part of the legend is true, but apparently no one is expected to ask questions about the rest of the story.

“Several of them come to mind. Why wasn’t there a panic every Autumn instead of just every eleven years or so? Why didn’t all banks—country or city—maintain adequate reserves to cover their depositor demands? And why didn’t they do this in all seasons of the year? Why would merely saying no to some loan applicants cause hundreds of banks to fail?”

The Morgan and Rockefeller bankers on Wall Street dreamed of having a central bank that could supply money when needed, as a “lender of last resort.” A central bank would also control the banks’ inflation rate. If bank reserves could be maintained at a central bank and a common reserve ratio established, then no single bank could expand credit more than its rivals, and therefore there would be no bankruptcies caused by currency’s draining from overly inflationary banks. All banks would inflate in harmony, and there would be tranquility and profits for all.

The origins of the Fed are pretty shady.

The central bank was conceived during a secret meeting at a private club on Jekyll Island, Georgia. According to an NPR article, Sen. Nelson Aldrich, chairman of the Senate finance committee, organized the clandestine meeting.

“He told a handful of New York bankers to go on a given night, one by one, to a train station in New Jersey. There they would find a private rail car hitched to the back of a southbound train. To conceal their identities, Aldrich told the bankers to come dressed as duck hunters and to address each other only by first name.”

The attendees at this meeting hammered out a blueprint that became the Federal Reserve Act.

The rest is a history of money devaluation and government growth.

THE ENGINE RUNNING THE BIGGEST GOVERNMENT IN HISTORY

The Federal Reserve serves as the engine that makes all of the US government’s borrowing and spending possible. Without the Fed, the entire system would collapse. Ultimately, you can thank the Fed for the massive national debt.

Case in point, in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, the Federal Reserve effectively monetized 100 percent of the new debt taken on by the US government.

Here’s how it worked.

In March and April, the US Treasury Department issued $1.56 trillion in debt securities to fund Uncle Sam’s massive coronavirus spending spree. Meanwhile, in March, the Fed bought $1.2 trillion in Treasury bonds. The central bank slowed its roll a bit in April but still purchased $526 billion in US bonds. That brought the two-month total to $1.56 trillion.

In effect, the Federal Reserve bought all of the debt issued by the US government in March and April with money created out of thin air.

Therein lies the Fed’s true power. It can “print money.”

When we say the central bank “prints money,” we don’t mean it literally runs off dollar bills in the basement of the Eccles Building. Modern money creation is digital. The Fed can simply write a check, even if funds don’t exist in the account, and “poof,” new money appears in the account of whoever receives the check. The Federal Reserve can’t bounce a check. This enables the central bank to expand the money supply at its discretion.

According to the powers-that-be, this is a feature, not a bug. The Fed’s ability to inflate the money supply supposedly creates economic stability.

In reality, it creates government stability.

If the federal government had to rely on tax receipts and debt it could repay to fund all of its unconstitutional wars, foreign aid, and domestic spending, it would be dead in the water. The ability to raise revenue through taxation would naturally limit the government. But with the Fed backstopping the borrowing and monetizing the debt, there are virtually no limits on its spending.

But you still foot the bill via the inflation tax.

As Peter Schiff put it during a 2022 interview, when you talk about families struggling with inflation, they’re really struggling with government.

Inflation is a tax. It’s the way government finances deficit spending. Government spends money. It doesn’t collect enough taxes, so it has to run deficits. The Federal Reserve monetizes those defiticts – prints money. They call it quantitative easing, but that’s inflation. Government is getting bigger and bigger, and families across America are going to have to bear that burden through higher prices.”

The Federal Reserve may well rank as the worst Christmas gift ever. It’s the give that keeps on taking.

END

2,c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens, John Rubino

END

3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA GOLD COMMENTARIES:

Strange: China sidelines its once powerful central bank: POBC

(GATA)

China sidelines its once-venerated central bank

Submitted by admin on Mon, 2023-12-25 18:01Section: Daily Dispatches

By Cheng Leng and Sun Yu
Financial Times, London
Monday, December 25, 2023

The influence of China’s once-powerful central bank has diminished as Beijing steps up a drive to centralise Communist party control over financial regulation.

Some of the powers formerly held by the People’s Bank of China have been taken over by a party oversight body and a revamped financial regulator as Beijing resets its growth model. While the central bank retains a vital role in daily money markets, its governor is now ranked lower in the party hierarchy than the chiefs of some of the banks the PBoC used to regulate.

Analysts said the changes, part of a shake-up under President Xi Jinping, would diminish the PBoC’s clout over domestic policymaking as well as its role as a communication channel with global regulators and markets.

“One of the biggest casualties of the new financial architecture is the diminished status of the PBoC,” said George Magnus, an associate at Oxford university’s China Centre. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.ft.com/content/b809c735-5ae7-433f-964d-f12ca7320538

end

Sorry India, do not want your rupees. Just your gold;

No takers for Indian rupees as payment for oil imports

Submitted by admin on Mon, 2023-12-25 18:29Section: Daily Dispatches

From the Press Trust of India
via The Times of India, Mumbai
Monday, December 25, 2023

India’s push for the rupee to be used to pay for import of crude oil has not found any takers as suppliers have expressed concern on repatriation of funds and high transactional costs, the oil ministry told a parliamentary standing committee.

The default payment currency for all contracts for import of crude oil is the U.S. dollar as per the international trade practice. However, in a bid to internationalize the Indian currency, the Reserve Bank of India on July 11, 2022, allowed importers to pay with rupees and exporters to be paid in rupees.

While there has been some success with non-oil trade with a select few countries, the rupee continues to be shunned by oil exporters.

“During FY 2022-23, no crude oil imports by oil public-sector undertakings were settled in Indian rupees. Crude oil suppliers (including the UAE’s ADNOC) continue to express their concern about the repatriation of funds in the preferred currency and highlighted high transactional costs associated with conversion of funds, along with exchange fluctuation risks,” the oil ministry told the parliamentary department-related standing committee.

The ministry, whose submissions are part of the committee’s report that was tabled in Parliament last week, said Indian Oil Corp. has informed that it incurred high transaction costs as crude oil suppliers pass on the additional transactional costs to IOC.” …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/no-takers-for-rupee-payment-for-oil-imports/articleshow/106255276.cms

* * *

4. OTHER GOLD/SILVER //COMMENTARIES//PODCASTS

end

5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES /

END

5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT

END

6.CRYPTOCURRENCY//DIGITAL CURRENCY// COMMENTARIES/

end

1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM

ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN AT 7.1442

OFFSHORE YUAN: UP TO 7.1448

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 19.93 PTS OR 0.23%

HANG SENG CLOSED

2. Nikkei closed UP 51.82 PTS OR 0.16%

3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL MOSTLY GREEN

USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 101.40 EURO FALLS TO 1.1011 DOWN 8 BASIS PTS

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield:RISES TO. +.637 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 142.44/JAPANESE YEN NOW RISING AS WELL AS LONG TERM 10 YR. YIELDS RISING //EVENTUALLY THIS WILL BREAK THE JAPANESE CENTRAL BANK

3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000

3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning

3e Gold UP /JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: DOWN// OFFSHORE: DOWN

3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA

Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.

3g Oil UP for WTI and UP FOR Brent this morning

3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund UP TO +1.9775***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.544** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 2.868…**

3i Greek 10 year bond yield DOWN TO 2.982

3j Gold at $2062.50 silver at: 24.34 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 0 AND 7 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 91.75//

3m oil into the 74 dollar handle for WTI and 79 handle for Brent/

3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/

JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 142,44// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.639% STILL ON CENTRAL BANK (JAPAN) INTERVENTION

30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this 0.8574 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9442 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.

USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.904 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS…

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.047 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS/

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.356 UP 2 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 29.34…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)

GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 2 BASIS PTS AT 3.544

end

2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge.

Futures, Oil Rise In Thin Post-Holiday Session

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 08:25 AM

The Santa rally grinds on, with US equity futures edging modestly higher in very thin volumes while interest yields were flat as trading resumed after the Christmas holiday amid growing expectations for earlier and deep interest rate cuts next year which supposedly will prevent a recession from materializing. As of 8:00am, S&P futures rose 0.1% while Nasdaq 100 futs gained 0.2%. Most European markets are closed, while Asian stocks are mixed in a thin trading session with markets including Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia also shut. The dollar was little changed while bitcoin slumped during its now traditional Asian session meltdown.

A flurry of deal news around the holiday lifted shares of some US-listed companies, including English football club Manchester United, which rose 3.9% – trimming an earlier double-digit gain – after Jim Ratcliffe agreed to buy a 25% stake in the club, valuing it at about $5.4 billion. Elsewhere in deal news, Hollysys Automation Technologies Ltd. climbed 6.6% in the US after a group led by Dazheng Group made an improved offer to acquire the company for $1.8 billion, seeking to thwart its sale to private equity firm Ascendent Capital Partners. And 3D printer maker Stratasys Ltd. jumped 11% after confirming it received unsolicited cash offer from Nano Dimensions Ltd. that values the company at $1.1 billion. Here are some other notable premarket movers:

Gracell Biotechnologies ADRs climb 58% after the China-based developer of cell therapies said it’s to be acquired by AstraZeneca for $2 per ordinary share in cash plus non-tradable contingent value right, according to a statement.
US-listed shares of Bilibili rise 2.1% while NetEase gains 2.5%, after China approved 105 domestic online games, according to a statement from the National Press and Publication Administration.
ZIM Integrated Shipping (ZIM) falls 7.2% after Maersk said it’s preparing to resume shipping through the Red Sea, thanks to a new multinational maritime task force to protect vessels from attacks by Houthi rebels from Yemen.

Some on Wall Street are positioning for further stock gains ahead as the session kicked off the start of the “Santa Claus rally” — a seasonal trend where equities tend to climb into the first few days of the new year. The S&P 500 notched an eight-week winning run on Friday — the longest in more than five years on signs price pressures in the US were easing. The Nasdaq is up over 50%, its best year since…1999.

“As for emerging markets in Asia, ‘silent night’ says much, given that there isn’t particularly inspired trading, with Wall Street equivocating ahead of Christmas,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank. “It looks like a case of averting the China drag and hanging on to earlier Santa rallies being the best case for Boxing day – boxing in risks.”

Global markets have been buoyed in recent months as traders bet major central banks including the Federal Reserve will aggressively cut interest rates next year as inflation falls. Bond yields have tumbled while the S&P 500 is nearing a fresh record.

Data released last week showed signs of resilience in US growth while the Fed’s preferred underlying inflation metric barely rose in November. Additional reports Friday showed consumers were also gaining conviction that inflation in the world’s largest economy was on the right track despite a bumpy housing market recovery. That helped cement investor expectations for earlier and deeper interest rate cuts next year, despite pushback from several Fed policymakers. Swaps traders are betting interest rates will be eased by more than 150 basis points in 2024, double the Fed’s forecast.

European markets were closed for the Christmas holiday while stocks in Asia were mixed in a thin trading session with markets including Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia also shut. European markets were closed too. Stocks fell in mainland China, with the benchmark CSI 300 Index dropping for the first time in four sessions, as investor sentiment remains weak even after the authorities softened their stance following a move last week to tighten curbs on the videogame industry.

Japan’s auction of two-year sovereign debt saw tepid investor appetite, sending a gauge of demand to the weakest in a year, amid speculation the central bank will end negative interest rates in 2024. Its labor market remained relatively tight in November, keeping pressure on employers to boost wages in order to fill positions.

The benchmark Topix index traded in a tight range, finishing the day up less than 0.1%, after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s speech on Monday that suggested he’s in no hurry to end the ultra-easy monetary policy.

“With the Nikkei 225 at high levels, year-end selling to lock in profits and losses is likely to weigh on the upside,” says Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Nomura Asset Management.

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.1% in thin trading. The EUR/USD rises to hold above 1.10 while GBP/USD fluctuates around 1.27. USD/JPY consolidates above 142. Emerging Asian currencies rose, with South Korea’s won and Taiwan dollar leading gains against a dollar that fell to its lowest level in almost five months. The dollar is likely to remain “under pressure” this week amid a lack of major economic data, according to Win Thin, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. “Early January will bring a slew of key economic data that calls the pivot into question.” Elsewhere, the Singapore dollar was little changed after core inflation edged lower in November, giving the central bank room to extend its monetary-policy pause next month to support the economy.

In rates, treasuries are mixed in early US trading with many European bond markets closed. Treasury 2-year yields rise 1bp to 4.33% while 10-year yield reversed an earlier drop of 2bps to trade unchanged at 3.90%. Yields remain within about 2bp of Friday’s closing levels on first day of holiday-shortened week, with 10-year at 3.89%; it reached 3.827% last week, lowest since July, following downward revision to 3Q GDP. The yield curve is flatter as short end cheapens ahead of $57b 2-year note auction at 1pm New York time. The When Issued 2-year yield of 4.29% is lower than 2-year auction results since April and more than 50bp lower than November’s sale following past month’s collapse in yields unleashed by signals from Fed that no further rate hikes likely.

In commodities, iron ore futures hit $140 a ton, highest in 18 months as traders keep a close eye on China’s steel outlook for the next year. Oil rose again after posting the largest weekly gain in more than two months, with shipping disruptions in the Red Sea in focus after a spate of Houthi attacks against vessels in the vital waterway.

Geopolitical tensions still remain front of investors minds into the new year as tensions in the Middle East look set to increase. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Israel will pay a price for killing a senior commander of its Revolutionary Guard in air strike in Damascus on Monday. The US accused Iran at the weekend of an attack on a tanker in the Indian Ocean.

On the US calendar today, we get data including November Chicago Fed National Activity Index and December Philadelphia Fed Non-Manufacturing Activity (8:30am), October FHFA House Price Index and S&P CoreLogic CS home price gauges (9am) and December Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity (10:30am). No Fed speakers are scheduled for remainder of year

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures up 0.1% to 4,812.00
MXAP up 0.3% to 165.27
MXAPJ up 0.4% to 515.04
Nikkei up 0.2% to 33,305.85
Topix little changed at 2,338.86
Shanghai Composite down 0.7% to 2,898.88
Sensex up 0.2% to 71,272.82
Kospi up 0.1% to 2,602.59
Brent Futures little changed at $79.04/bbl
Gold spot up 0.4% to $2,061.82
U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 101.75
Euro little changed at $1.1012
Brent Futures little changed at $79.04/bbl

Top Overnight News

Japan’s auction of two-year sovereign debt saw tepid investor appetite, sending a gauge of demand to the weakest in a year, amid speculation the central bank will end negative interest rates in 2024.
Japan’s labor market remained relatively tight in November, keeping pressure on employers to boost pay in order to fill positions as companies prepare to engage in annual wage negotiations with unions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined three prerequisites to achieving peace in its war with Hamas: the destruction of the group, the demilitarization of Gaza and for Palestinian society to be “deradicalized.”
Iron ore rallied to its highest since June 2022, showing Beijing’s efforts to stem the property market’s decline in recent months may be paying dividends.
Gold ticked higher as the final week of the year got under way, with traders looking ahead to interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in 2024 and a weaker US currency.
An abrupt surge in foreign buying of Chinese bonds has raised hopes that pessimism about the nation’s assets may be overdone. But it may be too early to celebrate.

US Event Calendar

08:30: Dec. Philadelphia Fed Non-Manufactu, prior -11.0
08:30: Nov. Chicago Fed Nat Activity Index, prior -0.49
09:00: Oct. S&P/Case-Shiller US HPI YoY, prior 3.93%
09:00: Oct. S&P CS Composite-20 YoY, est. 4.85%, prior 3.92%
09:00: Oct. S&P/CS 20 City MoM SA, est. 0.60%, prior 0.67%
09:00: Oct. FHFA House Price Index MoM, est. 0.5%, prior 0.6%
10:30: Dec. Dallas Fed Manf. Activity, prior -19.9

2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)

2C ASIA AFFAIRS

TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT

2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
//

NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA

END

2e) JAPAN

3 CHINA

CHINA

END

4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS

END

5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

ISRAEL/HAMAS/SATURDAY

Two hundred terrorists surrendered this week

Over 200 Hamas terrorists arrested in past week, IDF and Shin Bet says

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDECEMBER 23, 2023 11:17

Over 200 Hamas terrorists have been arrested by the IDF and Shin Bet in the past week in the Gaza Strip, spokespersons for the two said on Saturday morning.

The terrorists were taken in for further questioning by Israeli forces and were taken to Israel.

The arrests were made amongst hundreds of others in Gaza who were also arrested under suspicion of involvement in terror activities in Gaza.

In total, more than 700 operatives from terror organizations in the Gaza Strip were taken for questioning.

This is a developing story.

END

SATURDAY:

Troops kill dozens of Hamas gunmen in north Gaza, IDF says; 200 arrested in past week

Army says it intentionally caused dozens of gunmen to flee into building used as command center, then called in an airstrike; rockets target south for first time in nearly 48 hours

The Israel Defense Forces gave details Saturday on its ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, detailing gun battles and strikes on terror operatives as well as arrests.

Hamas, too, reported heavy shelling in several cities in the territory, hours after world powers in a UN Security Council vote demanded more aid be allowed into the Palestinian territory.

During ground operations in the southern part of Gaza City, the IDF said troops of the Yiftah Reserve Brigade carried out an ambush against Hamas, leading to dozens of terror operatives being killed.

The IDF said the troops opened fire in a deceptive manner to cause dozens of gunmen to flee into a building used as a command center. The building was then struck by a fighter jet.

Also in the southern Gaza City area, the IDF said Yiftah Brigade snipers killed several Hamas gunmen who were preparing to attack troops. Other buildings identified by the brigade as being used by Hamas in the area were struck by aircraft, the IDF added.

In an unspecified area of Gaza City, the IDF said troops of the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade identified a group of Hamas gunmen and called in an airstrike. In the Shati camp area of Gaza City, it said the 14th Brigade identified a further three Hamas gunmen who had opened fire at them. The brigade called in an airstrike to kill the three operatives.

The incidents in Gaza City indicate that while the IDF has operational control over the area, it is still battling smaller Hamas cells.

Meanwhile, in central Gaza, the army said the 179th Reserve Armored Brigade found a cache of weapons in a children’s daycare center, including mortars, RPGs and other explosives.

Clouds of gray and black smoke rose over the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis after strikes in the morning.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry reported that 18 people had been killed in a strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, and said other targets were hit up and down the coastal Strip.

Also Saturday, the IDF and Shin Bet said more than 200 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror operatives had been captured in the Gaza Strip over the past week, and taken for questioning.

IDF troops seen operating in the Gaza Strip in this handout photo released December 23, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The joint statement said hundreds of suspects were detained in the Strip over the past week, of which more than 200 were brought to Israel to be interrogated by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504.

It said some of the captured Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives were hiding within the civilian population before surrendering to troops.

So far since the beginning of the ground offensive, more than 700 terror operatives have been captured and brought to Israel, the IDF said.

Early Saturday afternoon, rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel after a lull of nearly 48 hours.

The attack set off sirens in the largely evacuated border community of Kfar Aza. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Locals reported seeing four interceptor missiles downing the incoming projectiles.

IDF troops seen operating in the Gaza Strip in this handout photo released December 23, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The rate of rocket fire from Gaza has slowed significantly in recent weeks, as the IDF expands its ground offensive against Hamas.

Friday saw the United Nations Security Council vote to pass a resolution that called to immediately speed up the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza while also “creating the conditions” for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

The resolution “calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

It was the first time since the war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that the council has passed a resolution including language regarding a “cessation of hostilities,” but it still stopped short of demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire, which both the US and Israel oppose. (Full resolution text here.)

The resolution reaffirmed the one approved last month, which called for temporary pauses in the fighting, and it again demanded the release of all hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza.

The resolution introduced by the United Arab Emirates was adopted with 13 votes in favor and zero against. Rivals US and Russia abstained, with the former explaining that the draft failed to condemn Hamas, while the latter argued that it failed to call for an immediate ceasefire.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya sought to have an amendment added at the last minute that called for “an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities,” dropping the phrase about “creating conditions” toward that end. This was the language used in the original draft of the resolution submitted on Monday.

The US opposed the language then, and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield exercised her veto power to block it from passing on Friday. Friday’s vote came after days of intense negotiations and delays required to get the US on board with the motion that eventually passed.

The Palestinian Authority’s representative to the UN called the Security Council resolution “a step in the right direction,” but reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire.

“It must be implemented and must be accompanied by massive pressure for an immediate ceasefire. I repeat, immediate ceasefire,” said Riyad Mansour.

Friday saw the IDF begin to call on some residents of central Gaza to evacuate south in the latest indication that the military’s ground offensive in the Strip was expanding, as the defense minister issued a renewed threat against Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and the military revealed a new major Hamas tunnel network.

Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, published a map of the zones in central Gaza’s Bureij town whose residents the army was urging to head for shelters in Deir al-Balah.

Adraee also said that Gaza’s main north-south highway, Salah ad-Din, in the areas northeast of Khan Younis, still remains a “battle zone” and that the IDF will instead facilitate the movement of civilians via a bypass route along the coast.

Additionally, Adraee said in his statement the IDF will make “tactical pauses in military activities” in the western neighborhoods of Rafah in southern Gaza, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., for “humanitarian purposes.”

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued a renewed threat Friday evening against Sinwar, saying the Hamas leader in Gaza will soon “meet the barrels of our guns.”

Gallant said the IDF was “gradually completing” its goals in northern Gaza, while also operating in the Khan Younis area and southern Gaza, and will operate in other places in the future, he said.

The IDF revealed later Friday that it had uncovered another large Hamas tunnel network in the southern part of Gaza City, publishing footage showing a dog from the Oketz canine unit scanning the underground passages.

According to the IDF, the network is hundreds of meters long and includes command rooms, storage and large resting areas with electricity, communication lines and water.

The tunnel was found by the IDF after troops of the Yiftah Brigade and combat engineers battled Hamas operatives at a main compound belonging to the terror group in Gaza City, near the al-Quds Hospital.

The tunnels were later destroyed by combat engineers and the 99th Division.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said Friday that the military is nearing complete “operational control” of northern Gaza, as it further expands operations in the southern part of the Strip.

He said at a press conference that troops were battling the last standing Hamas battalion, in the Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods of Gaza City, and still fighting Hamas in other areas of northern Gaza, albeit at a “lower intensity.”

The army announced Friday that two more troops were killed fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll in Israel’s ground offensive against the terror group since late October to 139.

The soldiers were named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Tal Shua, 31, of the Combat Engineering Corps’ 7071st Battalion, from Beersheba; and Lt. Shai Ayeli, 21, a cadet in the Bahad 1 officers’ school’s Gefen Battalion, who previously served in the Air Force’s Unit 669, from Ashkelon.

In addition, the military said a reservist and two other soldiers were seriously injured in battles in northern and southern Gaza.

Sgt. First Class (res.) Tal Shua, 31, left, and Lt. Shai Ayeli, 21, right, were killed in Gaza fighting, December 21, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

Adraee’s announcement about evacuations came a day after the IDF said it had expanded its ground operation in the central Gaza Strip to new areas.

According to the IDF, its 99th Division maneuvered into new areas of central Gaza to establish “operational control” south of Gaza City and north of the so-called central camps of central Gaza.

The IDF also announced Thursday that it had established full “operational control” over Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, which saw some of the fiercest fighting during the ground offensive against Hamas and had dismantled Hamas’s “core capabilities” in the area.

It said dozens of tunnel shafts, found in homes, schools and health clinics, were destroyed along with caches of weapons. The IDF said soldiers in its Golani Brigade raided the homes of senior Hamas members and seized intelligence materials in Shejaiya, and the 188th Armored Brigade captured the headquarters of Hamas’s Shejaiya battalion, from which terrorists set out to carry out the October 7 onslaught in southern Israel.

The Paratroopers Brigade, meanwhile, demolished more than 100 buildings used by Hamas in the area, as well as located dozens of tunnel shafts, and arrested many operatives who had surrendered, among them a Hamas company commander and terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacres, the IDF said.

This image from a video shows a tunnel network under Gaza City’s Palestine Square being demolished, December 21, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

Palestinian terrorists also fired dozens of rockets at southern and central Israel on Thursday, putting a violent end to a period of nearly two days in which no projectiles were shot at the country from Gaza.

The salvo on central Israel Thursday punctured the hope that the military’s offensive has damaged Gazan terrorists’ ability to fire rockets. The IDF has still been warning civilians to follow the Home Front Command’s emergency instructions, even as rocket fire from Gaza has slowed significantly.

Israel launched its vast military operation against Hamas following the terror group’s murderous invasion of southern Israel on October 7, in which it killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 240 hostages into Gaza. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 20,000 people have been killed in the Strip during the war, an unverified figure. Israel says it assesses troops have killed some 8,000 terror operatives. Another 1,000 Hamas terrorists were killed in Israel on October 7, during the terror group’s onslaught.

end

IDF’s Yiftach reserve brigade eliminates dozens of terrorists in ambush

By AMIR BOHBOT/WALLA!

The IDF’s Yiftach reserve brigade, as part of the ground operation in southern Gaza City, carried out a decoy shooting incident on Friday that led to the evacuation of dozens of terrorists into a building that served as a Hamas infrastructure.

After that, the forces directed an IAF fighter jet that attacked the structure and eliminated the terrorists.

The fighters of the 179th Brigade Combat Team located a stockpile of weapons in a kindergarten in the Bakshi neighborhood in the center of the Gaza Strip.

They found toy boxes containing dozens of mortar bombs and RPG-type anti-tank missiles.

END

SUNDAY

IDF says 14 soldiers killed over weekend amid heavy fighting in south, central Gaza

153 troops killed since start of ground op; military says chief of supplies for Hamas armed wing killed in Rafah strike; 30,000 explosive weapons captured since start of war

By EMANUEL FABIAN Today, 9:56 am 40

IDF soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip on December 22 and 23, 2023: Top L-R: Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Issachar Farhi, Master Sgt. (res.) Eliyahu Meir Ohana, Sgt. First Class (res.) Elyassaf Shoshan, Sgt. First Class (res.) Ohad Ashur, Staff Sgt. Roy Elias; middle: Staff Sgt. David Bogdanovskyi, Staff Sgt. Orel Bashan, Staff Sgt. Itamar Shemen, Staff Sgt. Gal Hershko, Cpt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak; bottom: Warrant Officer (res.) Alexander Shpits, Master Sgt. (res.) Shay Termin, Staff Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, Staff Sgt. Nir Rafael Kananian. (Courtesy)

The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday the names of nine soldiers killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip throughout the previous day, bringing the number of troops killed over the entire weekend to 14, as the military deepened its offensive against the Hamas terror group.

Five soldiers of the Combat Engineering Corps and a paramedic were killed by an anti-tank guided missile that hit a Namer armored engineering vehicle they were in, in southern Gaza. Another four were killed by bombs in two separate incidents during battles with gunmen in central Gaza.

The deaths bring the number of troops killed since the start of the ground operation in late October to 153.

In all, 10 soldiers were killed on Saturday. They were identified as:

Staff Sgt. David Bogdanovskyi, 19, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Haifa.
Staff Sgt. Orel Bashan, 20, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Haifa.
Staff Sgt. Gal Hershko, 20, a squad commander in the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Yiftah.
Staff Sgt. Roy Elias, 21, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Tzofar.
Staff Sgt. Itamar Shemen, 21, a paramedic in the 36th Division, from Lapid.
Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Issachar Farhi, 30, a combat medic in the Yiftah Brigade’s 7810th Battalion, from Herzliya.
Master Sgt. (res.) Eliyahu Meir Ohana, 28, of the Yiftah Brigade’s 7810th Battalion, from Haifa.
Sgt. First Class (res.) Elyassaf Shoshan, 23, of the 646th Brigade’s 6646th Battalion, from Jerusalem.
Sgt. First Class (res.) Ohad Ashur, 23, of the 646th Brigade’s 6646th Battalion, from Kfar Yona.
Cpt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak, 22, a team commander in the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Haifa.

The IDF had announced Butzhak’s death earlier, along with four soldiers killed on Friday: Staff Sgt. Nir Rafael Kananian, 20; Staff Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, 20; Master Sgt. (res.) Shay Termin, 26; and Warrant Officer (res.) Alexander Shpits, 41.

Commenting on the mounting IDF death toll, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s cabinet meeting that “The war is taking a very heavy toll on us, but we have no choice but to continue fighting.”

“Our forces have so far eliminated many thousands of terrorists, and we will continue with all our strength until the end, until victory, until we have completed all our goals,” the premier declared.

Battles raged over the weekend as the IDF continued intense fighting in south Gaza’s Khan Younis, where some of Hamas’s leadership is thought to be hiding.

The military announced Saturday it had killed a Hamas official in charge of supply for the terror group’s military wing in an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Rafah, as it continued efforts to dismantle Hamas’s command structure.

Palestinians at the site of a destroyed car after it was hit from an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 22, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The IDF said Hassan al-Atrash was responsible for the supply and production of weapons for Hamas, as well as smuggling weapons from various countries into the Strip. The military published footage of the strike.

It added that al-Atrash was also involved in supplying weapons to terrorists in the West Bank.

Palestinian media reported Friday that at least three people were killed in the airstrike.

In his evening address Saturday, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military has further expanded operations in southern Gaza, particularly against Hamas’s underground infrastructure.

“Entering new Hamas strongholds, troops are engaged in heavy battles,” Hagari said.

In the Khan Younis area, Hagari said, the IDF was working “very intensively” against the terror group’s tunnels. “We’ve expanded combat engineering forces there… and we will expand the [99th] Division’s abilities [further] in the coming days,” he stated.

He said that so far, ground forces have destroyed or seized some 30,000 items of explosive weaponry, including anti-tank missiles and RPGs, across the Gaza Strip.

In the area of the Gaza City neighborhoods of Daraj and Tuffah, Hagari said troops had found a cache of weapons in a school, including many explosive devices, rockets and “strategic” capabilities belonging to Hamas’s naval forces, which he stated could have been used against Israeli Navy vessels.

The IDF also released footage obtained from the body camera of a Hamas operative who planned to attack Israeli military engineering vehicles, showing him being killed by troops.

The IDF said troops of the elite Egoz unit operating in the Khan Younis area spotted the gunman approaching the forces and opened fire.

After scanning the area, the body of the terror operative was found, along with his camera.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-8-more-soldiers-killed-amid-heavy-fighting-in-south-central-gaza-saturday/

Despite the extensive operations, Hamas has still shown it is capable of firing rockets into Israel, carrying out launches on Saturday evening toward Gaza border communities and Ashkelon, triggering sirens. No injuries were reported in the salvos.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz toured the northern Strip and held an assessment with military officials Saturday.

The visit by the ministers to Beit Hanoun came after the IDF Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade assumed responsibility for the area following its full capture by ground forces.

“I am sure that [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is sitting in his bunker watching TV, he sees what Beit Hanoun looks like,” Gallant said in a video statement.

“This is also true for the Hamas commander who is now fighting against our forces in Khan Younis; he understands how the story ended for the Beit Hanoun battalion,” Gallant added.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (left) and war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, December 23, 2023. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)

Gantz, in his remarks, issued a warning to the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, which has been carrying out daily attacks on northern Israel.

“This campaign is one of the most important that the State of Israel has seen. It serves both the residents of the south and radiates to other arenas,” he said.

“I am sure that [Hassan] Nasrallah is looking at what is happening here [in Gaza] and does not want it to happen to him [in Lebanon],” Gantz added.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi also held an assessment, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, hailing the “impressive offensive” but adding that “we still have a lot of work to do.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks to officers in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, December 23, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF said Halevi held the assessment with Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, Commander of the 98th Division Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, and Commander of the Givati Brigade Col. Liron Betito.

end

ISRAEL/GAZA/MONDAY

Israeli soldier killed by deadly fungi infection suffered in Gaza – report

Over the course of the IDF’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, at least 10 soldiers have been diagnosed with several infections suffered during fighting.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDECEMBER 25, 2023 22:26

Israeli soldiers operate near the Gaza border, December 25, 2023 (photo credit: REUTERS/VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA) — Israeli soldiers operate near the Gaza border, December 25, 2023(photo credit: REUTERS/VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA)

An IDF soldier died in Gaza two weeks ago after being infected by a dangerous fungus found in the Strip, KAN News reported on Monday night.

The soldier was hospitalized for several days at Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod after being evacuated from Gaza with serious limb injuries sustained due to the infection.

In the hospital, it was revealed the soldier suffered from two different fungi infections. According to KAN News, the soldier eventually succumbed to his wounds and infections.

Over the course of the IDF’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, at least 10 soldiers have been diagnosed with several infections suffered during fighting.

An Israeli soldier walks through a tunnel underneath Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 22, 2023 (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

IDF to examine whether infections originated in Hamas tunnels

The Israeli Society for Infectious Diseases will reportedly hold an urgent discussion next week with epidemiological experts from the IDF and the Health Ministry following a recent trend observed of soldiers being infected with diseases during Gaza fighting.

As per the report, the discussions will include examinations of whether the recent infections, previously unknown to the Israeli military, originated in Hamas’s terror tunnels.

end

Tuesday/fighting in Southern Gaza

Times of Israel

IDF targeting Hamas in central Gaza, battling terror group’s al-Bureij battalion

By EMANUEL FABIAN Today, 7:02 pm 0

Israeli armored vehicles of the 36th Division roll into central Gaza, in a handout video published December 26, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF is further expanding its operations in the central Gaza Strip, with the 36th Division moving away from the Gaza City area and striking Hamas’s al-Bureij battalion.

“The battalions of the central camps are currently facing the strength of the IDF. They will cease to function as other battalions have ceased to function,” says the commander of the 36th Division, Brig. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa.

The al-Bureij battalion consists of around 1,000 fighters and is just one of four Hamas battalions in the terror group’s central camps brigade.

The four Hamas battalions in central Gaza — al-Bureij, Deir al-Balah, Maghazi and Nuseirat — have all sustained some damage in Israeli strikes, but are believed to be largely functioning. The commander of the central camps brigade, Ayman Nofel, was killed in an Israeli strike last month.

During the first hours of ground operations in al-Bureij, the IDF says troops of the Bislamach Brigade located a tunnel shaft leading to a large underground Hamas tunnel network, as well as a training ground.

The operations in central Gaza come as the IDF is focusing most of its efforts on the southern part of the Strip, while conducting clear-up operations of Hamas infrastructure in the north.

The 36th Division had fought in the Gaza City neighborhoods of Zeitoun, Shejaiya, Rimal and Shati.

“The fighting in Shejaiya was difficult and complex, and we managed to achieve significant achievements during it. Shejaiya will no longer be a terror center for Hamas,” Bar Kalifa says.

The IDF has begun to demolish buildings in areas it has captured along the Gaza border, including Shejaiya, to establish a one-kilometer buffer zone, so that residents of Israeli border towns can return to live in their communities in safety.

end

WEST BANK/ISRAEL

END

WEST BANK/ISRAEL

END

END

LEBANON/ISRAEL

This is good! Lebanon ready to implement UN measure for Hezbollah to disarm. Israel will leave the disputed areas if they do so

(JERUSALEM POST)

Lebanon PM: Ready to implement UN measure for Hezbollah to disarm if Israel leaves disputed areas

BEIRUT — Lebanon is ready to implement a UN resolution that would help end Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks on Israel if Israel also complies and withdraws from disputed territory, Lebanon’s prime minister says.

The frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the IDF and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7 with the Gaza-ruling terror organization’s devastating onslaught, raising fears of a broader conflagration.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, called for the removal of armed personnel south of Lebanon’s Litani River, except for UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army and state security forces.

The solution to the current cross-border hostilities “is the implementation of international resolutions,” including Resolution 1701, Prime Minister Najib Mikati says in a statement.

“We are totally ready to commit to their implementation, on condition the Israeli side does the same, and withdraws — according to the international laws and resolutions — from occupied territory,” he adds, which his office says refers to Mount Dov — also known as Shebaa Farms — the Kfar Chouba hills and the Lebanese side of the village of Ghajar.

END

LEBANON/ISRAEL/SATURDAY

IDF completes extensive wave of attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDECEMBER 24, 2023 11:51

The IDF and the Israel Air Force completed their attack on a series of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, reported the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit on Sunday.

Terrorist infrastructures, military buildings, and launch positions were hit in the attacks.

END

LEBANON/ISRAEL/SUNDAY

Israel’s Military Strikes Hezbollah Command Center In Serious Escalation

SUNDAY, DEC 24, 2023 – 06:45 PM

This weekend has witnessed a significant escalation between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah along the southern Lebanese border.

Israeli media reported that a Hezbollah command center has been attacked. “The IDF says fighter jets have hit a Hezbollah military headquarters in Lebanon in response to attacks on northern Israel today, including one that left a soldier moderately wounded,” TOI reports.

This came following Hezbollah attacks on multiple Israeli military and civilian positions. The IDF then expanded its artillery shelling. While since Oct.7 exchanges of fire have been daily, the weekend saw an expansion of the frequency of these strikes.

Northern Israel’s Kibbutz Menara was attacked in the Saturday flare-up in violence. The northern Israel community said: “The harsh reality is that from the beginning of the war, dozens of missiles were fired towards the kibbutz, most of them anti-tank missiles. As a result, at least 86 out of 155 apartments were affected with various degrees of damage,” according to an official statement issued by the Kibbutz.

On Friday some 20 rockets were fired on Israel from Lebanon within only a 24-period. Early in the Gaza conflict, some days might have witnessed a handful of rockets and mortars fired in what has remained a “limited” front. But it’s a deeply worrying sign that the ‘norm’ has now become dozens of projectiles exchanged on any given day.

Soon after Oct.7, Israel began evacuating dozens of towns and settlements near the border, to within 2km of it, after Hezbollah rockets began raining down. At this point Israel says at least 80,000 of its citizens are still forced to stay away from their residences amid the Hezbollah threat. They have effectively become temporary refugees.

In Gaza, the IDF issued a new casualty count over the weekend, as follows:

The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday the names of nine soldiers killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip throughout the previous day, bringing the number of troops killed over the entire weekend to 14, as the military deepened its offensive against the Hamas terror group.

Five soldiers of the Combat Engineering Corps and a paramedic were killed by an anti-tank guided missile that hit a Namer armored engineering vehicle they were in, in southern Gaza. Another four were killed by bombs in two separate incidents during battles with gunmen in central Gaza.

The deaths bring the number of troops killed since the start of the ground operation in late October to 153.

Watch: Hezbollah has published a series of clips showing the continued degrading of Israeli defense communications facilities along the border…

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/israels-military-strikes-hezbollah-command-center-serious-escalation

As for operation in Israel’s north, there have been conflicting accounts regarding Israeli leadership’s intentions. Some reports have claimed that Netanyahu wants to launch a preemptive war to eradicate Hezbollah along with Hamas. But others say Israel’s command understands that opening a full front with the Iran-backed paramilitary group might seriously overextend Israeli forces, also at a politically sensitive moment.

Hezbollah is widely seen as a more formidable, better-armed force as well – and thus it could potentially become an even bloodier campaign than what’s taking place now in the Gaza Strip if a full war front is opened up.

end

IRAN/SYRIA/ISRAEL/MONDAY

Top Iranian commander killed in alleged Israeli airstrike on Syria

Iranian state-owned media confirmed the death of IRGC commander Seyed Razi Mousavi, identified as “a senior advisor” in Syria.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDECEMBER 25, 2023 15:41Updated: DECEMBER 25, 2023 17:39

Senior IRGC commander Sayyed Razi Mousavi, killed in Syria on December 25, 2023 (photo credit: VIA WALLA/SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT) — Senior IRGC commander Sayyed Razi Mousavi, killed in Syria on December 25, 2023(photo credit: VIA WALLA/SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)

Sayyed Reza Mousavi, a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), was killed on Monday in an alleged Israeli airstrike in the vicinity of the Syrian capital of Damascus, Lebanese media out Al-Mayadeen and Reuters reported, citing two unnamed security sources.

Local media outlets reported that explosions were heard in the area of Set Zaynab in the Damascus countryside.

Footage shared on social media showed a cloud of smoke near the Damascus International Airport, a site targeted frequently due to its use by Iranian proxies in the region.

Funeral of members of Iran's IRGC who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Syria, in Tehran (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS) — Funeral of members of Iran’s IRGC who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Syria, in Tehran (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)

Top Iranian commander killed identified as Sayyed Razi Mousavi

Iranian state-owned media confirmed the death of IRGC commander Sayyed Razi Mousavi, identified as “a senior advisor” in Syria.

According to unconfirmed reports from Iranian opposition media, Mousavi was responsible for coordinating the of financing and transfer of logistics from Tehran to Iranian proxies in Syria.

Here’s the photo of Seyed Razi Mousavi, the top Iranian commander in Syria, killed by Israel in Damascus today. pic.twitter.com/XZnurjhZbG— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 25, 2023

Mousavi was considered to have been close to Qassem Soleimani, the former head of the Quds Force who was killed by a US drone in January 2020, according to Iranian media. END

SAME STORY AS ABOVE/

TUESDAY

Hezbollah pushed further from the Israeli border:

Israel expects response to killing of senior Iranian commander – report

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli fighter jets are flying openly over Lebanon as Hezbollah is being hit “very hard” by the IDF.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

posts[i].image.ImageName (photo credit: ELAD MALKA/DEFENSE MINISTRY) — Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visits the IDF Northern Command on December 25, 2023(photo credit: ELAD MALKA/DEFENSE MINISTRY)

Israel is expecting a response on the northern front to the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Sayyed Reza Mousavi in Syria, Israeli media reported on Monday evening, citing defense establishment officials.

Earlier on Monday, it was reported that Mouasvi, a senior IRGC commander responsible for the military cooperation between Iran and its proxies in the region, was killed in an airstrike in the Damascus countryside.

According to Israeli security assessments, Iran had ramped up its transfer of weaponry to Shi’ite militias operating in Syria since the IDF launched its war on Hamas in Gaza.

Gallant: Israeli fighter jets flying openly over Lebanon

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who visited the IDF’s Northern Command on Monday, said that Hezbollah was being pushed very far away from the border with Israel and that the IDF “will strengthen all of these efforts.”Senior IRGC commander Sayyed Razi Mousavi, killed in Syria on December 25, 2023 (credit: VIA WALLA/SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)

Gallant described how the IDF has killed over 150 terrorists in Lebanon, although Hezbollah only acknowledged around 125 of them as being directly connected to it, and not some other dozens connected to Palestinian terror groups.

The defense minister said that the IDF has also struck a significant amount of Hezbollah’s infrastructure near the border, forcing it backward as an operational matter, lest it otherwise be disconnected from weapons and supply lines.

In addition, he said that IDF aerial power has greater operational freedom within Lebanon than ever before.

He promised northern residents that the IDF would restore security either by a diplomatic deal or by a larger military operation, but still refrained from giving a timeline for deciding on the fateful issue.

Earlier Monday, Hezbollah fired rockets on Israel’s northern front, with the IDF responding with tank fire.

Over Sunday, the IDF engaged in heavier than usual attacks on Hezbollah and both sides have escalated attacks on each other in recent weeks, with Israel causing more damage to Hezbollah, given that around 80,000 northern residents evacuated the area months ago.Go to the full article >>

END

IRAN/HOUTHIS/ISRAEL/USA/SATURDAY

Drone strike hits Israeli ship off India’s coast, maritime agencies say

Khamenei urges Muslim countries to stop fuel reaching Israel * After UNSC vote, UN chief slams Hamas, says IDF offensive causing aid obstacles * Army kills dozens of Gaza gunmen

Drone strike hits allegedly Israel-linked ship off India’s coast — maritime agencies

By AFP and TOI STAFF

A drone strike has damaged a ship off the coast of India but caused no casualties, two maritime agencies say, with one reporting the merchant vessel was linked to Israel.

The attack caused a fire on board, says the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO.

Ambrey, a maritime security firm, says the “Liberia-flagged chemical/products tanker… was Israel-affiliated” and had been on its way from Saudi Arabia to India.

The ostensible Israeli affiliation has not been made clear.

Both agencies say the attack occurred 200 nautical miles southwest of Veraval, India. They do not name the vessel.

end

TV report: Israel believes drone fired at tanker off India was launched directly from Iran

Israel believes the drone fired at a tanker off the coast of India a short while ago was launched directly from Iran, Channel 12 reports, although this remains unconfirmed.

The ship, said to be a Liberia-flagged chemical/products tanker, sustained damage but there were no casualties, two maritime agencies said, with one reporting, without confirmation, that the vessel is linked to Israel.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike, which comes amid a flurry of drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on a vital shipping lane in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza.

However, as the attack occurred some 200 nautical miles southwest of Veraval, India, it is unlikely to have been carried out from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

END

Yemen/USA/RED SEA/HOUTHIS

Container Ships In Red Sea All But Disappear As Key Trade Route Freezes

FRIDAY, DEC 22, 2023 – 08:00 PM

Major shipping companies are rerouting vessels from the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope to avoid Houthi drone and missile attacks. New shipping data indicates a significant decrease in commercial vessel activity on the critical global trade corridor connecting to the Suez Canal, responsible for 12% of international trade and almost one-third of global container traffic.

Bloomberg data shows only a handful of container ships with destinations in Europe or Asia are sailing through the once-busy Red Sea. These vessels are being rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope.

New data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd. shows an 82% plunge in the gross tonnage of container ships arriving in the Gulf of Aden in the last four days, compared with the first half of December, according to Bloomberg.

On Wednesday, logistics company Kuehne + Nagel International AG reported at least 100 container ships were rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope. That number is likely higher at the end of the week.

Seven major shipping companies, including Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen and Belgian tanker owner Euronav, halted all sails through the Red Sea earlier this week.

While traders have been focused on rising Brent prices due to regional instability, CNBC learned this week that logistics managers were quoted $10,000 per 40-foot container from Shanghai to the UK. Just last week, the same rates were about $2,400.

Extended travel times due to the 1 to 2-week detour have sparked supply chain chaos from retailer IKEA.

“What we can share for now is that the situation in the Suez Canal will result in delays and may cause availability constraints for certain IKEA products.

“This is our main priority. In the meantime, we are evaluating other supply options to secure the availability of our products, and we continue to monitor the situation closely going forward,” said an IKEA spokesman.

Meanwhile, the US and its allies are trying to restore order in the major maritime shipping lane via Operation Prosperity Guardian.

Comments from the White House on Friday afternoon show things are heating up:

WHITE HOUSE ALLEGES IRAN WAS ‘DEEPLY INVOLVED’ IN PLANNING OPERATIONS AGAINST COMMERCIAL VESSELS IN THE RED SEA

The Red Sea appears to be entering a deep freeze. This could only mean global supply chain snarls will reemerge near term.

end

IRAN/RED SEA

Iran shows it can strike ships at long distance in Indian Ocean

Iran backs the Houthis in attacks on ships and expands the area it threatens.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

posts[i].image.ImageName (photo credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH) — Armed men stand on the beach as the Galaxy Leader commercial ship, seized by Yemen’s Houthis last month, is anchored off the coast of al-Salif, Yemen, December 5, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)

Iran has backed Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea over the last two months. The Houthis have escalated their attacks, first targeting Israel’s southern city of Eilat and then targeting commercial ships. The Houthis claim they are backing Hamas in Gaza.

Iran backs the Houthis and Hamas, and it now appears to have joined the Houthi attacks on ships by carrying out a long-range drone attack on a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean. As such, Iran has created an arc of drone threats that stretch from Yemen to Chabahar in Iran, near the border with Pakistan.

According to BBC, “A chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was hit by a drone launched from Iran on Saturday, the US military says. A fire on board the Chem Pluto was extinguished. There were no casualties.”

It is important to understand the context here. The attack on the ship in the Indian Ocean took place on December 23. The day before, the US had accused Iran of being involved with Houthi threats to shipping in the Red Sea. “The White House publicly released US intelligence as the Iranian-linked Yemeni insurgents persist with ship strikes they say are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Hamas militants,” CBS reported. “The White House said that Tehran’s clerical state has provided drones and missiles to the Houthis as well as tactical intelligence.” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said “we know that Iran was deeply involved in planning the operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea.”

Meanwhile, US Central Command said that “between 3 and 8 p.m. (Sanaa time), the USS Laboon (DDG 58) was patrolling in the Southern Red Sea as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) and shot down four unmanned aerial drones originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen that were inbound to the USS Laboon. There were no injuries or damage in this incident.” Prosperity Guardian is a group of countries that have agreed to help provide security in the Red Sea after numerous attacks.

A HOUTHI TERRORIST guards the deck of the ‘Galaxy Leader’ cargo ship in the Red Sea last month. (credit: Houthis/via Reuters)

Sign of Iran’s growing confidence

Iran has developed long-range kamikaze drones over the last decade. It began basing some of them in Yemen in at least late 2020. In 2021, a report in Newsweek claimed Shahed 136 drones had been seen in Yemen in satellite photos. Iran later exported these types of drones to Russia in 2022. In addition, in November 2022, Iran used a kamikaze drone to attack a ship off the coast of Oman. The drone was reportedly flown from Chabahar in Iran. At the time, US Central Command said that an examination of the “debris that hit the vessel reveals that it was a Shahed-series one-way attack drown.”

The shipping lanes now threatened in the Red Sea, off the coast of Oman, Yemen, and Iran, and now also off the coast of India, are vast. However, Iran has been able to make this large area of open water smaller by basing drones in Yemen and in Iran.

The November 2022 attack on the Pacific Zircon occurred around 240km off the coast of Oman. Another attack on the Mercer Street ship in July 2021 killed two people. That ship was off the coast of Oman. Iran appears to have shown that it can expand the range of the drones to strike ships further out to sea.

The attacks pose a growing risk to international shipping. The attacks in the Red Sea, for instance, caused the US to deploy more naval assets to the area. If Iran expands the attacks to the Indian Ocean, it will create a second crisis. This appears to be its opening salvo, building on the incidents in 2021 and 2022. Iran has not faced retaliation in the past and likely won’t face retaliation now.

In the past, Iran also mined ships off the coast of the UAE and attacked ships in June 2019. Each time, Iran seeks to cause a crisis at a time and place of its choosing, forcing the US and other partners to spread their resources thin in a vast area of ocean. This is now the case regarding the Red Sea and the new attack in the Indian Ocean. Go to the full article >>ENDIRAQ/USA/Biden, the Magnificent finally acts after 3 USA 3 troops were wounded, one in critical condition, by an Iranian affiliated terrorist group in Iraq fired upon them

(zerohedge)

US retaliates in Iraq after three US troops wounded in attack

By Phil Stewart

December 25, 202310:47 PM EST updated an hour ago Tuesday

Dec 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. military carried out retaliatory air strikes on Monday in Iraq after a one-way drone attack earlier in the day by Iran-aligned militants that left one U.S. service member in critical condition and wounded two other U.S. personnel, officials said.

The back-and-forth clash was the latest demonstration of how the Israel-Hamas war is rippling across the Middle East, creating turmoil that has turned U.S. troops at bases in Iraq and Syria into targets.

Iran-aligned groups in Iraq and Syria oppose Israel’s campaign in Gaza and hold the United States partly responsible.

At President Joe Biden’s direction, the U.S. military carried out the strikes in Iraq at 1:45 GMT, likely killing “a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants” and destroying multiple facilities used by the group, the U.S. military said.

“These strikes are intended to hold accountable those elements directly responsible for attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Syria and degrade their ability to continue attacks. We will always protect our forces,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, in a statement.

A U.S. base in Iraq’s Erbil that houses U.S. forces came under attack from a one-way drone earlier on Monday, leading to the latest U.S. casualties.

The base has been repeatedly targeted. Reuters reported on another significant drone attack in October on the barracks at the Erbil base on Oct. 26, which penetrated U.S. air defenses but failed to detonate.

The Pentagon did not disclose details about the identity of the service member who was critically wounded or offer more details on the injuries sustained in the attack. It also did not offer details on how this drone appeared to penetrate the base’s air defenses.

“My prayers are with the brave Americans who were injured,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

The White House National Security Council said Biden was briefed on the attack on Monday and ordered the Pentagon to prepare response options against those responsible.

“The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way. The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

Still, it is unclear if the latest U.S. retaliation will deter future action against U.S. forces, who are deployed in Iraq and Syria to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State militants.

The U.S. military has already come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones.

The U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad also came under mortar fire earlier in December, the first time it had been attacked in more than a year, in a major escalation.

The latest unrest came less than a week after Austin returned from a trip to the Middle East focused on containing efforts by Iran-aligned groups to broaden of the Israel-Hamas war.

That includes setting up a U.S.-led maritime coalition to safeguard Red Sea commerce following a series of drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that more than 20 countries have agreed to participate in the new U.S.-led coalition, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian.

Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Michael Perry

end

(zerohedge)

same story as above:

US Destroys 3 Militant Bases In Iraq After Multiple Americans Wounded In Christmas Day Attacks

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 09:40 AM

The US has retaliated after at least three troops were wounded, with at least one critical, amid the recent stepped up spate of attacks by ‘Iran-backed’ militias in Iraq and Syria. There have been over one hundred of these since mid-October related to the Gaza War, but the US has struggled to established deterrence. Instead, Americans remain in harm’s way amid an ongoing occupation.

“US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by Kataeb Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had announced in a Christmas Day statement.

“These precision strikes are a response to a series of attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias, including an attack by Iran-affiliated Kataeb Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Arbil Air Base earlier today,” he added.

It was reportedly done with one-way attack drones, and thus appears to have been limited in scope, compared to a prior couple of operations which involved airstrikes on multiple militant bases and facilities in Iraq and Syria.

The attack which left American troops wounded happened in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Erbil, which has long been generally considered a safer and more stable base of operations for US and coalition troops.

Though such rocket and drone attacks have been happening with increased regularity, there’s a likelihood this one was intentionally timed with the holiday of Christmas. According to details in the AP:

Biden, who is spending Christmas at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, was alerted about the attack by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan shortly after it occurred on Monday and ordered the Pentagon and his top national security aides to prepare response options to the attack on an air base used by American troops in Erbil.

Biden then convened his national security team and ordered the retaliatory attack. “The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way,” a follow-up US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement said. “The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue.”

Austin again repeated the claim that the US is not seeking to “escalate” – but it remains that the thousands of troops positioned in Iraq and Syria are “unwanted” by the local populace.

The Pentagon is there as an occupying foreign force, and this has especially outraged Syrians given US troops still have control of the country’s limited oil and gas resources in the east. This is meant to starve Damascus alongside Washington sanctions.

The US military has said that Monday’s operation likely resulted in the deaths of “a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants,” while videos have emerged on social media purporting to show the charred remnants of at least one militia base.

end

Tuesday//Israel/Hamas

Times of Israel

TV report: IDF shifting strategy to low-intensity, long-haul Gaza operation

By TOI STAFF and AGENCIES

The Israeli military is preparing to shift strategies in Gaza, realizing that it has squeezed what it could out of high-intensity fighting, and must now dig in for a prolonged low-boil engagement aimed at toppling the Hamas terror group, Channel 12’s military reporter says.

The reported shift just happens to dovetail with US demands that Israel ease up on its high-energy bombardments and surges of troops into urban areas, and just in time for an unofficial January deadline.

According to correspondent Nir Dvori, the army will create a kilometer-wide buffer zone within the Strip on its borders with Israel, expanding an existing buffer zone. Infantry troops, largely drawn from conscripts, will occupy the zone to ensure Gazans cannot approach the fence with Israel, and launch pinpoint raids from there, reports Dvori, but the troop presence will be significantly smaller than it currently is.

He does not attribute the information to a source, but Israeli military reporters are often briefed on army plans under rules requiring them to present what they are told as their own “analysis.”

“The assumption behind the change in strategy is that total defeat of Hamas will not be achieved via a massive ground offensive, but via a long war of attrition,” he says. “It can take months, maybe even years — but creating a new reality in Gaza will require a diplomatic process and economic moves along those of the military.”

At a Knesset meeting, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Yuli Edelstein notes that as the fighting progresses, Israel is “transitioning from the second to third stage” of the military operation in Gaza, and the public should prepare for a long war.

In late October, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s ground offensive would not be enough to defeat Hamas, which would require a third, intermediate stage of fighting during which it will begin to seek out new leadership for the battered enclave, while rooting out “pockets of resistance.”

The report on the apparent shift comes with Israel largely in charge in north Gaza, while south Gaza remains crowded with civilians and relatively out of the army’s operational control.

end

Tuesday/Hezbollah/Israel

IDF confirms Hezbollah anti-tank missile hit Greek Orthodox church in northern Israel

Today, 3:09 pm 9

The Israel Defense Forces confirms that a Hezbollah anti-tank missile hit the St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Iqrit, northern Israel.

“The attack is not only a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 but also a violation of the freedom of worship,” the IDF says in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter.

Israel Defense Forces

@IDF

Hezbollah attacked the St. Mary’s Greek-Orthodox Church of Iqrit in northern Israel. An anti-tank missile from Lebanon directly hit the church, injuring a civilian. This attack is not only a clear violation of

@UN

Security Council Resolution 1701, but also a violation of the freedom of worship.

7:53 AM · Dec 26, 2023

313.9K Views

IDF: 9 troops hurt, including 1 seriously, while evacuating wounded man from church hit by Hezbollah

By EMANUEL FABIAN

File: Saint Mary’s Church in Iqrit, northern Israel (Dr. Avishai Teicher / Wikipedia)

The IDF says nine soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in an anti-tank guided missile attack in Shomera in northern Israel, after arriving to evacuate a civilian wounded in an earlier Hezbollah attack against a church.

Hezbollah fired a missile from Lebanon at the Greek Orthodox Church of Iqrit, moderately wounding a civilian in his 80s.

As troops arrived to evacuate the wounded man, Hezbollah fired additional missiles, wounding nine soldiers.

One was listed in serious condition, while the other eight were listed in good-to-moderate condition.

The IDF says it targeted a Hezbollah site in Lebanon, as well as a building to which the operative who launched the missile at the church fled.

The IDF says Hezbollah also fired a missile from near a mosque in southern Lebanon’s Yaroun at the Dovev area in northern Israel.

“This is further proof of Hezbollah’s cynical exploitation of Lebanese civilians and holy sites for its terrorist activity,” the IDF says.

Projectiles were also fired at the Yiftah and Mount Dov areas on the border. The IDF says it is shelling the launch sites with artillery.

END

SAUDI ARABIA/ISRAEL

96% Of Saudis Oppose Ties With Israel, Hamas Grows In Popularity: Poll

FRIDAY, DEC 22, 2023 – 10:00 PM

Via Middle East Eye

A new poll has found that 96 percent of Saudi nationals believe that Arab countries should cut ties with Israel in response to the war in Gaza, and that the popularity of Hamas has grown significantly amid Israel’s devastating military offensive on the embattled territory.

The result of the poll, conducted by the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Affairs, a pro-Israel think tank based in Washington, shows the difficulties the United States faces as it pushes for Saudi Arabia to normalise ties with Israel. Prior to the war in Gaza, the US was actively working towards achieving an agreement that would see Israel and Saudi Arabia normalize relations.

Such a deal would build upon existing normalization agreements such as those between Israel and Bahrain, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates which were brokered under the Trump administration.

During an interview with Fox News that aired in September, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated that the two countries were getting closer to such an agreement “every day”.

Since then, however, Riyadh has put a pause on talks of normalisation and has publicised its diplomatic outreach as one that seeks “to stop the ongoing escalation”.

While the kingdom has a monarchial system, public opinion plays a factor in the decision-making of Arab leaders, according to analysts.

Friday’s survey also found that 40 percent of Saudis expressed positive attitudes toward Hamas, compared with just 10 percent according to a poll carried out months before the war began.

The poll further found that the majority of respondents in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt held favourable views towards Hamas. The poll’s findings highlight large-scale outrage in the Arab world over Israel’s military assault on Gaza, which came in response to the 7 October attack on southern Israel.

That attack saw 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals killed, and around 240 people taken captive by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. Israel responded by imposing a full siege on the already blockaded enclave. It then launched a devastating aerial bombing campaign followed by a ground invasion that has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children.

As a result, mass protests have erupted across the Arab world in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. In addition to the demonstrations in the streets, citizens across the Middle East are boycotting Israeli-linked businesses.

The survey further found that 87 percent of Saudis believe “Israel is so weak and internally divided that it can be defeated some day”.

end

EGYPT/RED SEA/TUESDAY

Drone from the Houthis was shot down in the Red Sea near Dahab

(Reuters/Jerusalem Post)

Egypt’s Al Qahera News TV: explosions heard in skies of Red Sea city of Dahab

By REUTERSDECEMBER 26, 2023 13:32

Explosions were heard over the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Dahab on Tuesday, Egypt’s Al Qahera News TV reported.

END

GAZA, RAFAH/EGYPT/ISRAEL

Trap of Gaza: Why Rafah is the city that could lead Israel and Egypt to conflict

Despite the focus on Khan Yunis, Rafah, surprisingly, emerges as a more intricate trap, as the conflict there poses significant challenges on multiple levels.

By DR. NACHUM SHILOH

posts[i].image.ImageName (photo credit: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90) — Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes as it seen from Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, December 1, 2023(photo credit: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90)

As the IDF deepens its activities in the southern Gaza Strip, the media concentrates on Khan Yunis. Given that the city, the adjacent refugee camp, and its tunnels are perceived as potential strongholds of Hamas leadership and the location where Israeli captives might be held, the focus on Khan Yunis is understandable. However, despite the complexity and the heavy human cost of the fighting in Khan Yunis, Rafah, in particular, appears to be a more complex trap, as the conflict there presents significant challenges in the bilateral, regional, and international arenas.

Since Israel completed its withdrawal from Sinai in 1982, Rafah has been divided between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Even after the Oslo Accords were implemented, Israel continued to control the Rafah crossing and the strip that separates Palestinian territory from Egyptian territory – the “Philadelphi Corridor.” This route quickly became a hub for terrorist activities against IDF forces and a conduit for smuggling weapons from Sinai through the tunnels.

Weapon smuggling increased after the disengagement in 2005, and with Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, it became even more rampant. Following “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014, Egypt began taking action against weapon smuggling by demolishing houses on the Egyptian side of Rafah and by flooding the tunnels along the Egyptian border.

If and when the IDF takes control of Rafah, it will have significant implications. In the bilateral arena, the occupation of Palestinian Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor will not only increase the risk of unwanted shooting incidents between the IDF and the Egyptian army but will also violate the peace agreement between the two countries. According to the agreement, Israel is prohibited from deploying tanks and artillery east of the border in the narrow strip (“Area D”), allowing only the placement of four IDF battalions and no more than 180 armored personnel carriers.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 24, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

The temporary or permanent occupation of Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor may lead Israel to violate this clause in the peace agreement, potentially sparking tensions with Egypt or prompting a demand for the reinforcement of Egyptian forces in Sinai. While changes to the agreement’s clauses are possible, they require the consent of both parties. Additionally, the presence of Israeli forces in Rafah and along the Philadelphi Corridor may put Egypt in a dilemma. Egypt might soon be asked by Israel to act from the Egyptian side to block the channels of weapons transfer to the remaining terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip. Egyptian approval of such a request could be interpreted as an agreement to Israeli control of the strip.

Egypt’s major concern, as evident from the early days of the conflict, is the influx of refugees from the Gaza Strip to Sinai. Egypt vehemently opposes this due to several reasons: besides being an economically struggling country with limited capacity to support the Palestinian refugee population, Egypt fears being perceived in the Arab world as aiding Israel in expelling or mistreating Palestinians. Furthermore, the presence of Palestinian terrorist activities in Sinai, along Israel’s border, could lead to confrontations between Egypt and Israel if these elements act against Israel from Egyptian territory.

Internationally, control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing holds significant implications. While Israel states that it has no intention of managing the civil affairs of the Gaza Strip and taking responsibility for the economy of its residents, international law dictates that Israeli control on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing would make Israel responsible, in the eyes of the world, for the livelihood and economy of the Gaza Strip population.

In any scenario, any Israeli move in Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor will require Israel to negotiate and cooperate with Egypt on this matter, taking into serious consideration Egypt’s positions and needs. In particular, Egypt is a preferred regional mediator for Israel not only in dealing with the issue of hostages but also in all matters related to communication channels with any Palestinian authority in the Gaza Strip. Failure to consider Egypt’s needs might result in a catastrophe, leading to the restoration of the Muslim Brotherhood’s control in Egypt and the return to power of Hamas’ ideological patrons.

The question of “the day after” the war is closely linked to Rafah. So far, Israel has not provided the international community with an answer regarding the future of the Gaza Strip. The government has emphasized what it does not want (“Hamasstan” or “Fatahstan”), but it has not clarified what it does want. One assumption is that Israel prefers moderate Sunni Arab states – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan – to manage the Gaza Strip, either in a civilian or military capacity.

Different factors in Egypt have already clarified that Egypt has no intention of controlling the Gaza Strip. However, even if Egypt agrees to participate in future arrangements, such as sending Egyptian workers to assist in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Israel will need to take into account Egypt’s position regarding Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor.

Military personnel stand guard on the day of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly’s visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt, October 31, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY)

Implications on international level

On an international level, Israeli control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing has significant implications. While Israel declares that it is not interested in governing the Gaza Strip and being responsible for the economy of its residents, international law stipulates that Israeli control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing would make Israel globally responsible for the livelihood and economy of the Gaza Strip residents.

In any case, any Israeli move in Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor will require Israel to negotiate and cooperate with Egypt on this matter, taking into serious consideration Egypt’s positions and needs. In particular, Egypt is a preferred regional mediator for Israel not only in dealing with the issue of hostages but also in all matters related to communication channels with any Palestinian authority in the Gaza Strip. Failure to consider Egypt’s needs might result in a catastrophe, leading to the restoration of the Muslim Brotherhood’s control in Egypt and the return to power of Hamas’ ideological patrons.”

Dr. Nachum Shiloh is a Middle East expert at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University and CEO of the business intelligence company Global OSINT.Go to the full article >>END

END

Lt Col Richard Hecht

It’s not just Shifa

Car belonging to abducted hostage found in Gaza hospital

LT. COL. RICHARD HECHTDEC 26

READ IN APP

Let’s talk about hospitals in Gaza.

If you’ve been following me, you know that Shifa Hospital in the Gaza City was a watershed moment for us, with extensive upfront statements by the IDF saying that we would not tolerate Hamas’ deliberate use of human shields, followed by careful but deliberate operations to reveal the full extent of Hamas’ entrenchment in and under the hospital.

But Shifa is not an exception.

Before we continue, help us spread the word on what the IDF is facing by sharing this newsletter with a friend or colleague.

Gaza has dozens of hospitals and – just like the mosques and schools across Gaza – Hamas exploits many of them for terrorist activity, jeopardizing the very locations that should be reserved for protecting the people of Gaza.

And, unfortunately, the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip was no different.

(More satellite photos of the Indonesian hospital and nearby infrastructure are available here)

About the Indonesian Hospital

Built in 2011 with funding from Indonesia and opening in 2015, the Indonesia Hospital near Jabalya has some 110 beds. But it’s what’s underneath the beds that matters.

During operational activity over the past few weeks, IDF soldiers discovered overwhelming evidence connecting Hamas’ terrorist activities to the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. This included a white Toyota Corolla belonging to the family of one of the Israelis abducted on October 7th, as well as a truck identical to the type that Hamas used during the attacks.

But it goes far deeper than two cars.

In fact, under the hospital is a strategic center belonging to Hamas’ Jabalya Battalion, one of the larger battalions in Hamas’ Northern Gaza Brigade.

The war on this battalion has been underway for some time.

The IDF successfully targeted the battalion commander as early as late October. More recently, this Sunday, the IDF announced operational control of the area in an effort led by the 551st Brigade of the 162nd Division. The operations included fierce battles during which many terrorists were killed and hundreds of weapons were located. As part of these same efforts, IDF soldiers located and recovered the bodies of five hostages abducted on October 7th and brought them to be buried in Israel, acting on information from the IDF Intelligence’s 504 Unit.

Back to the hospital

Earlier in the war, the IDF released an intercepted phone call showing how Hamas was controlling fuel allocation, including by taking fuel from the Indonesian Hospital. But the role of the hospital in Hamas’ strategic plan was far larger than a fuel depot.

As Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the IDF Spokesperson, put it yesterday:

The evidence we have collected indicates that the hospital area served Hamas terrorists as a gathering point before the October 7th attack and provided refuge for them afterward.”

During the war, armed “Nukhba” operatives – Hamas commandos that ran point on the October 7th attacks – were sighted in the hospital. The hospital was also used as a gathering point prior to the attacks. And, like so much of Gaza, the hospital has extensive terrorist infrastructure underneath with tunnel shafts leading to a large subterranean network in the hospital area.

The discovery of the cars immediately nearby was no coincidence. Take a look.

As you can see, in the inner compound of the hospital, a white Toyota truck – the same kind now well-known from the October 7th massacres – was discovered, along with weapons.

In the same inner compound, in a fenced-off area, a white Toyota Corolla with Israeli plates was found. The car had belonged to the family of the late Samer Talalka. Inside the car, soldiers found parts of an RPG, as well as bloodstains identified as belonging to another hostage.

In other words, the hospital was intrinsically linked to the brutal events of October 7th.

Thanks for reading Mission Brief from LTC Richard Hecht (Official IDF Substack)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Subscribed

It’s horrific that Hamas continues to exploit these sensitive sites for warfare. And, as I mentioned, hospitals are not unique in that regard. Here, for example, is a picture of weapons recently found in a children’s bedroom in Gaza:

When Hamas fires from schools or hides weapons among civilians in schools, it forces the IDF to act there as well. It’s a deliberate Hamas choice with grave ramifications for Gaza’s residents….and it is manifest on a daily basis.

See examples of human shield abuse

Operational Update

Several launches from Lebanon toward northern Israel were identified. The IDF struck targets in Lebanon in response. In addition, earlier today a surface-to-air missile was launched from Lebanon toward an IDF aircraft – the aircraft wasn’t damaged and successfully completed its mission. An IDF fighter jet also struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon this morning.
Yesterday, acting on intelligence indicating Hamas terrorists hiding inside schools, Nahal Brigade soldiers conducted operational activity in the area of the “Al Rafaa” and “Zavaha” schools in Tuffah in the northern Gaza Strip. During encounters with terrorists, the soldiers located dozens of explosive devices bags, rifles and explosive belts.
IDF soldiers continued to operate across the Gaza Strip including Khan Yunis, Beit Lahia, Daraj Tuffah, and Jabalya. In multiple cases, tight-knit coordination between ground forces and the air force helped eliminate terrorists. For example, after identifying a Hamas cell advancing toward a military compound in Khan Yunis, troops directed an IDF aircraft that struck the compound and killed the terrorist cell.
218 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip yesterday (Dec. 25). 142 inspected at the Nitzana crossing and transferred to Gaza via the Rafah Crossing, and 76 inspected and transferred to Gaza via Kerem Shalom.

Quoted

“There are no magic solutions or shortcuts in the fundamental dismantling of a terrorist organization, except persistent and determined fighting, and we are very, very determined. We will also get to the Hamas leadership, whether it takes a week or months. Thanks to spirit and professionalism, we will get there.”

Statement by the Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi

What I’m reading

This NY Post article about the troubling relationship between Hamas and UNWRA. As a Gaza resident says:

“Hamas has their hands on UNRWA administration workers, and it manages UNRWA…From the day they [Hamas] rose to power they took control of everything.”

/RUSSIA//UKRAINE

Putin Now Serious About Negotiating End To War: Diplomats

SATURDAY, DEC 23, 2023 – 10:00 PM

In a fresh weekend report The New York Times says that President Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate an end to the nearly two year-long ‘special operation’ in Ukraine, at a moment most of the territory which forms the four ‘annexed’ oblasts remains firmly under Russian military control.

However, to some degree, Putin has consistently held open the chance to negotiate… it’s just that “negotiate” in the Kremlin context would be on the basis of Crimea and the Donbass being fully recognized as Russian Federation territory. Until recently, the West considered this an impossibility, but US and European officials have more recently quietly admitted Moscow has more or less ‘won’. The NY Times quotes Putin in the following:

Buoyed by Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive and flagging Western support, Mr. Putin says that Russia’s war goals have not changed. Addressing his generals on Tuesday, he boasted that Ukraine was so beleaguered that Russia’s invading troops were doing “what we want.”

“We won’t give up what’s ours,” he pledged, adding dismissively, “If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate.” But in a recent push of back-channel diplomacy, Mr. Putin has been sending a different message: He is ready to make a deal.

The report cites Russian diplomatic sources who say Putin has for the first time been open to ceasefire which would include a freezing of all frontline fighting. American officials say the same, per the report: “In fact, Mr. Putin also sent out feelers for a cease-fire deal a year earlier, in the fall of 2022, according to American officials.”

“That quiet overture, not previously reported, came after Ukraine routed Russia’s army in the country’s northeast. Mr. Putin indicated that he was satisfied with Russia’s captured territory and ready for an armistice, they said.”

Very obviously, Ukraine’s leadership and society has been fracturing under the strain of the invasion and immense death toll, with Kiev officials recently admitting monumental problems with manpower and ammo supply.

But the reality is that Russian society is likely facing deep fractures and uncertainty too, though it’s far less evident. Countless mothers, fathers, and families are grieving and dealing with the loss of loved ones killed in action. Conservative estimates have said at least 50,000 Russian troops have died in the war (and that is based just on data as of mid-summer). US officials have claimed a figure in the hundreds of thousands, but there are reasons to be doubtful of this.

Angry families of fallen soldiers have increasingly formed the locus of a small but increasingly visible Russian anti-war movement, suggesting broader quiet societal angst concerning the direction of the war in Ukraine. They don’t want Ukraine to be Russia’s “endless war”. This discontent threatens to become much more out in the open, seen for example in the following:

Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova was disqualified on Saturday from running against President Vladimir Putin in an election next March because of alleged flaws in her application to register as a candidate.

Video from a meeting of the central electoral commission showed members voting unanimously to reject the candidacy of Duntsova, who had wanted to run on a platform to end the war in Ukraine and release political prisoners.

Her disqualification was seized on by Putin’s critics as proof that no one with genuine opposition views will be allowed to stand against him in the first presidential election since the start of the 22-month war. They see it as a fake process with only one possible outcome.

According to more in the NYT report on Putin’s supposed new-found readiness for serious negotiations:

Mr. Putin’s repeated interest in a cease-fire is an example of how opportunism and improvisation have defined his approach to the war behind closed doors. Dozens of interviews with Russians who have long known him and with international officials with insight into the Kremlin’s inner workings show a leader maneuvering to reduce risks and keep his options open in a war that has lasted longer than he expected. While deploying fiery public rhetoric, Mr. Putin privately telegraphs a desire to declare victory and move on.

“They say, ‘We are ready to have negotiations on a cease-fire,’” said one senior international official who met with top Russian officials this fall. “They want to stay where they are on the battlefield.”

So likely, Putin could be facing increased pressure even from Kremlin senior officials to wrap up Ukraine operations, especially given the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions have already been declared part of Russia, and a firm military grip remains on them.

But it remains that Ukraine’s Zelensky has shut the door every time he’s so much as asked by the press about the possibility of negotiating. Simultaneously, he’s admitted time and again that things aren’t going well for Ukraine forces on the battlefield. Yet he still says he’ll never enter ceasefire talks with Moscow so long as Putin is still in power.

END

Ukraine ‘Celebrates’ Destruction Of Major Russian Navy Vessel In Rare Crimea Air Raid

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 10:20 AM

Ukraine’s military has conducted a rare airstrike on a docked Russian warship in an early morning raid on Tuesday. The amphibious landing ship Novocherkassk is said to have sustained significant damage, but The Associated Press is reporting that a pair of Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down by Russian anti-air defenses shortly after.

The landing ship “Novocherkassk” was docked in the Crimean city of Feodosia, with crew aboard during the assault, resulting in one person killed and two injured. Russia’s TASS said the attack resulted in an ammunition store being blown up.

The Novocherkassk is a large amphibious assault landing ship, and thus the attack is being seen as a significant blow to the Russian Navy, also with Ukraine leaders celebrating the mission as a ‘victory’.

“The fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller!” Ukrainian air force chief Mykola Oleshchuk declared on Telegram. Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat at the same time said on US-funded Radio Liberty, “We saw how powerful were the blast and detonation. It’s extremely difficult for a ship to survive something like that.”

Kiev leaders also shared several videos showing the giant port explosion…

Oleshchuk used the occasion to urge all Russians to leave Crimea “before it’s too late.” Pro-Ukrainian pundits also widely shared images of the attack aftermath in a celebratory mood.

However, it has long become clear that Ukraine has little to celebrate, given the increasing top-level admissions that Ukraine forces are failing – as one recent New York Times headline also emphasized – and that manpower and ammo are in severe short supply. Kiev will eventually be forced to negotiate and reach a settlement which will inevitably require giving up significant territory in the East and likely the South too.

The Russians confirmed Tuesday’s major port attack, with governor of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov giving a press briefing on the extent of the destruction:

“Unfortunately, as a result of an enemy attack in Feodosia, one person was killed, two were wounded. Six buildings were damaged; mostly, windows were shattered. Six people have been evacuated to temporary accommodation centers; other residents are staying with their relatives and friends. Transport infrastructure is functioning normally; there are no restrictions on passenger traffic,” Aksyonov said.

The Novocherkassk was likely targeted as it was known to transport and launch Kamikaze drones, among others, against Ukrainian cities and targets from the Black Sea. Russia has relied heavily on drones to degrade and destroy key Ukrainian infrastructure throughout nearly two years of war.

end

GLOBAL VACCINE/COVID ISSUES

ROBERT H:

Why ivermectin was banded in so many countries or discredited

If you look at figure 19 it is quite clear as to why. It is also just as clear as to why those unvaccinated do better than the vaccinated people with Covid. What would be interesting to see is why the impact of things like NAC or glutathione or Quercetin have on these vaccines. Because it does appear that such things had a positive impact.
It is equally clear that various batches of these vaccines were created with some having minimal impact while others were far worse. Today billions of dollars of these vaccines
Are being tossed as people no longer want them.
Whatever the attempt or experiment was it is clear the public trust in government and big pharma dropped massively. This has happened at a time when all countries and currencies are undergoing structural change as everything will change over the next decade. When we arrive at 2032 the world will be quite different.

Click to access Analysis_of_test_sticks_from_surface_testing_in_the_Slovak_Republic.pdf

END

Dr Paul Alexander…

‘Medical journals publishing thousands of fake scientific papers’ (by SHARYL ATTKISSON); I agree, I am an evidence-based medicine specialist in research methods, I can say vast majority of what is

published by academic medical journals are pure utter garbage, junk and especially during COVID; pure specious tripe & researchers know it and the journal editors; academic medical publishing is DEAD

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 23

READ IN APP

https://sharylattkisson.com/2023/12/medical-journals-publishing-thousands-of-fake-scientific-papers/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Sharyl+Attkisson+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=Daily+Newsletter

‘The following is from The Vaccine Reaction.

Medical journals are increasingly riddled with fake scientific papers put out by “paper mills”—profit-oriented organizations that produce and sell fabricated manuscripts or ones containing manipulated scientific data.

In the past year, approximately 70,000 (1.5 – 2 percent) of published scientific papers were generated by paper mills. It is estimated that, over the last two decades, paper mills may have churned out as many as 400,000 papers.

Newly developed software is able to detect whether a paper was generated by a paper mill to a good degree of certainty by comparing an open index of research papers to works previously produced by paper mills. An estimated three percent of biology and medicine papers closely resembled paper mill works, according to an unpublished analysis shared with Nature.

The paper mill papers tend to follow a specific template and only change an image or a few words in the text. Adam Day, developer of the software called Paper Mill Alarm admits that there is no way to know if all of the articles flagged are generated by paper mills.

A report by the Committee on Publication Ethics released in June 2022 confirms Day’s findings. The report, which looked at six publishers, found that two percent of papers submitted to journals may have come from paper mills and for some journals, the number may be as high as 40 percent.

The increasing number of scientific papers being retracted supports these alarming findings. The Retraction Watch Database found that in 2022 more than 4,600 scientific papers were retracted by journals. By comparison, in 2002 journals retracted only 119 papers.

“Publish or Perish” Policy Leading to Increase in Fake Scientific Papers

A recent report in a medRxiv pre-print published in May showed that as many as 34 percent of 5,000 neuroscience papers and 24 percent of medical papers published in 2020 were plagiarized or false.

Bernhard Sabel, psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Magdeburg in Germany and lead author of the report explained:

Scientists are often judged by the number of papers they publish, and that is quite common practice everywhere around the world. And all this pressure creates anxiety and fear to not being promoted, to lose the job and so on. And so the best way to solve that, given they have no capacity to do the research, is, as if you’re buying a T-shirt in the shop, you can buy a paper for it to be published in the scientific journal.

Universities can be active participants in perpetuating the problem of fake papers being published. Students are often required to publish as a prerequisite to obtaining a masters or doctorate degree.

Professors can earn academic promotions when they are listed as co-authors on published papers, while universities obtain money from research grants based on published papers. All of these incentives can encourage the proliferation of fake scientific papers by researchers eager to advance their careers at universities.

The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, which represents 120 publishers, is working on an effort called Integrity Hub to create new ways to detect false papers churned out by paper mills.’

end

In short, the COVID pandemic was a FRAUD, 100%, it was a PCR-manufactured pandemic that was NEVER a pandemic, at most an emergency or heavy flu season (influenza like illness season) with a 0.05% IFR,

which is half burden seasonal flu, COVID entirely spared our children unlike flu that kills them, median age of death 83, > than 79 life-expect; had we done nothing, NO ONE would have NOTICED

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 23

READ IN APP

COVID-19 and RT-PCR cycle count (amplification) threshold value (Ct): problematic sensitivity with a Ct value of 24/25 and beyond in detecting replicating virus and signifying infectivity as well as

END

Another pilot death? Makis stack: ’30s year old Jose Espinal – El Salvador Pilot for Volaris (El Salvador), Air Jazeera Airways (Kuwait) and former VECA & TACA Airlines, died suddenly on Dec.5, 2023.’

What would kill a healthy 30 year old pilot suddenly? Why so many pilots incapacitated and dying? We know most likely took the vaccine as had to in order to work as a pilot; Makis’s scholarship below

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 24

READ IN APP

COVID Intel – by Dr.William Makis

PILOT DIED – 30s year old Jose Espinal – El Salvador Pilot for Volaris (El Salvador), Air Jazeera Airways (Kuwait) and former VECA & TACA Airlines, died suddenly on Dec.5, 2023.

NEWS: On December 5, 2023, Pilot Jose Miguel Espinal died suddenly. The husband of sports presenter dies only 18 days after his wedding: Who was he and what did José Miguel Espinal die of? Sports presenter Linda Cruz dedicated a moving message to her husband, José Miguel Espinal, who died unexpectedly…

19 hours ago · 44 likes · 2 comments · Dr. William Makis MD

Excellent work by Makis, keeping us informed as pilots continue to fall to the mRNA vaccine, read his work, support:

Start here

END

‘From 2020 to 2021, life expectancy continued to decline in the U.S. while rebounding in most comparable countries!’ But why? Now post COVID it is 6 years shorter! Why? America spends many times more

per-person on healthcare than other nations especially other 1st world richer countries, yet we have much shorter life expectancy! Why? As we spend more, life expectancy goes down in US? How?

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 24

READ IN APP

How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries?

‘Life expectancy in the U.S. and peer countries generally increased from 1980-2019, but decreased in most countries in 2020 due to COVID-19. From 2020 to 2021, life expectancy at birth began to rebound in most comparable countries while it continued to decline in the U.S. The CDC estimates life expectancy at birth in the U.S. decreased to 76.4 years in 2021, down 2.4 years from 78.8 years in 2019 and down 0.6 years from 2020. The average life expectancy at birth among comparable countries was 82.3 years in 2021, down 0.3 years from 2019 and up 0.2 years from 2020. Life expectancy varies considerably within the U.S., though life expectancy in all U.S. states falls below the average for comparable countries.’

In 1980, life expectancy at birth in the U.S. and in comparably large and wealthy countries was similar, but over recent decades, life expectancy has improved by much more in peer nations than it has in the U.S. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased mortality  and  premature death rates in the U.S. by more than it did in most peer countries, widening a gap that already existed before the pandemic.

END

SLAY NEWS

The latest reports from Slay News2023 Is a Year of Record Cold Temperatures – Media Blackout During 2023, the corporate media has been dominated by reports of allegedly record-breaking heatwaves, wildfires, and droughts.READ MORE WEF Demands World Leaders Advance ‘Great Reset’ Agenda The World Economic Forum (WEF) has issued an alert to its globalist members and demanded that global leaders begin advancing the roll-out of the unelected organization’s “Great Reset” agenda.READ MORE Biden’s $7.5 Billion Plan to Build 500,000-Strong EV Charging Network Has Yet to Produce a Single Charger Democrat President Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure package included billions of dollars to fund an ambitious plan to construct a massive nationwide electric vehicle (EV) charging network.READ MORE 24% of Americans Say They Know Someone Who Died from Covid Shot A troubling number of Americans say that they know someone who died from Covid mRNA injection side effects, a new poll has revealed.READ MORE CDC Downgrades Women to ‘Pregnant People’Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration is continuing to wage war against women by erasing feminine terms to describe the female of the species.READ MORE United Nations Has Been Pushing to Reduce Global Population for Decades In the decades since its inception in 1945, the United Nations (UN) has been increasingly pushing its globalist agenda onto sovereign countries around the world.READ MORE Hospital Scraps Christmas Eve as Paid Holiday, Replaces It with Juneteenth A Georgia hospital has announced that it is scrapping Christmas Eve as a paid holiday for workers and will be replacing the Christian day with Juneteenth.READ MORE

he latest reports from Slay News

Chinese Communist Party Secretly Funding Climate Agenda in America A disturbing paper trail has emerged showing that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is funneling vast sums of cash into the United States to fund the push for America to tackle the so-called “climate crisis.”READ MORE

Michigan Democrat Staffer Praises, Kisses Satanic Statue at State Capitol A Democrat staffer has openly praised a satanic statue that was erected in front of the Michigan State Capitol.READ MORE

Federal Judge Blocks Effort to Remove Trump from West Virginia Ballot A federal judge has blocked an effort to remove President Donald Trump from the 2024 Republican primary ballot in West Virginia.READ MORE

Republicans Move to Remove Biden from 2024 Ballots in Three Swing States Republicans in three states have moved to remove Democrat President Joe Biden’s name from the ballots for the 2024 election.READ MORE

NYC Mayor Slams ‘Far-Left Agenda’ of City Council over Anti-Police Legislation NYC’s Democrat Mayor Eric Adams has slammed the “far-left agenda” of the New York City Council over new legislation that limits the work of police officers.READ MORE

Reagan’s AG: Jack Smith’s Appointment Was Illegal Former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese has filed a Supreme Court brief arguing that Special Counsel Jack Smith has no legal authority to prosecute President Donald Trump. READ MORE

Kamala Harris’ Approval Rating Sinks to Historic Low Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris has just seen her approval rating among American voters sink to a historic low, new polling data shows.READ MORE

Hillary Clinton Resurrects Putin ‘Puppet’ Smear against Trump Twice-failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has bought back one of her favorite false smears against President Donald Trump.READ MORE

White House Refuses to Reveal Why Hunter Biden Not Listed on Flight Manifests The White House is refusing to reveal why Democrat President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is not listed on official flight manifests when he can be seen boarding the taxpayer-funded planes.READ MORE

‘Beloved’ Philadelphia News Helicopter Pilot and Photojournalist Killed in Tragic Crash in New Jersey Forest A local Philadelphia, Pennsylvania news helicopter has crashed in a New Jersey forest, killing the pilot and photojournalist on board, according to reports.READ MORE

Democrat Charged over Voter Fraud Scheme Involving Mail-In Ballots So-called “conspiracy theories” are continuing to be proved true this year as yet another Democrat has just been charged over a voter fraud scheme involving mail-in ballots.READ MORE

Liberal Political Scientist: Democrats Should ‘Panic’ over Biden’s ‘Historically Poor Approval Ratings’A celebrated liberal political scientist has warned the Democrats that they should “panic” over President Joe Biden’s historically poor polling.READ MORE

Rudy Giuliani Files for Bankruptcy, Cites $500 Million in Liabilities Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy, according to a new court filing.READ MORE

The latest reports from Slay NewsWEF Advisor: ‘What Do We Need So Many Humans For?’World Economic Forum (WEF) senior advisor Yuval Noah Harari is continuing to promote his anti-human agenda by trashing “useless people.”READ MORE UN Pushing Food Supply Crackdown to Meet Agenda 2030 Targets The United Nations (UN) is ramping up efforts to crack down on the global food supply to supposedly fight “climate change.”READ MORE Mike Flynn Warns ‘Globalists Are Coming for Our Faith, Our Families, Our Treasure, Our Lives’Lt. General Michael Flynn has issued a warning to the American people regarding the mounting threats against the republic.READ MORE George Soros Has Been Pushing America & Israel to ‘Open the Door’ to Hamas Since the October 7 Hamas terror attacks against Israel, George Soros’ years-long agenda in the region has been raising concerns.READ MORE Chicago Paid Medical Firm $7 Million in Taxpayer Money to Staff Migrant Shelters for One Month Financial records have exposed the staggering figure that Chicago taxpayers have been paying to house illegal border crossers in their so-called “sanctuary city.”READ MORE Financial Guru Who Predicted 2008 Collapse Issues Dire Warning about Economy: ‘Serious Trouble’One of the country’s leading financial gurus is sounding the alarm over America’s “serious” financial troubles.READ MORE Biden’s ‘Climate Army’ Will Severely Hurt Economy, Republicans Warn: ‘Radical Anti-American Energy Agenda’Republicans are raising the alarm about the billions of dollars in taxpayer money that Democrat President Joe Biden is pumping into his so-called “Climate Corps.”READ MORE Americans’ Home Payments Have Soared Under Biden A new analysis has revealed the soaring cost of living increases that Americans have suffered under Democrat President Joe Biden’s so-called “Bidenomics.”READ MORE Audi Slashes Electric Vehicle Production as Demand Plummets German automaker Audi has announced that it is slashing production of electric vehicles (EVs) and halted future plans as demand for the products has plummeted.READ MORE 8-Year-Old Boy Shot in the Head by Thug While Looking at Christmas Lights with Family An 8-year-old child is in critical condition after being shot in the head by a violent thug in Oklahoma.READ MORE

EVOL NEWS

WEF & UN Planning to Launch Global Water CrisisREAD MORE…

LATEST NEWS:

JD Vance Obliterates AP Reporter For Comparing Trump To Hitler: ‘Do Some Journalism’Read more…Coroner: Ex-Buc Williams died of bacterial sepsisRead more…Trump and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel pressured Detroit officials…Read more…Pistons drop 25th straight, one away from recordRead more…Trump Calls Biden an ‘Insurrectionist’ in Table-Turning Remarks After Colorado Ballot BanRead more…Stephen Colbert Transforms Into A Legal Analyst, Explains How Colorado Ruling Is ‘Pro-Democratic’Read more…REPORT: Biden Emailed Hunter’s Business Associates 54 Times Around Time Of Burisma AppointmentRead more…RFK Jr. SLAMS Colorado Court’s Trump Ballot Decision: “It’s Terrible!”Read more…

NEWS ADDICT

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES

WEF & UN Planning to Launch Global Water Crisis The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the United Nations (UN) have joined forces to launch a global water crisis to further advance the globalist agenda.
WEF: ‘ALL Humans Will Wear a Uniform’ by 2030 The World Economic Forum (WEF) has called for an end to individual fashion among the public and declared that “all humans will wear a uniform” before the year 2030.READ THE FULL REPORT READ THE FULL REPORT

Biden Admin Blames ‘Climate Change’ on Unvaccinated President Joe Biden’s administration has published a report that blames “climate change” on unvaccinated Americans.READ THE FULL REPORT

Idaho AG Joins 18 Other Attorneys General to Halt Jack Smith’s Move to Speed up Donald Trump’s Trial with SCOTUS Alabama and 18 other states, including Idaho, filed a brief in support of Donald Trump.READ THE FULL REPORT

Judge’s Dissent in ‘Absurd’ Colorado Ruling Holds Key to How Decision Should Be Overturned Colorado Supreme Court Justice Carlos Samour, who wrote one of three stinging dissents to the Anderson v. Griswold ruling against Trump, may have provided a “roadmap” for the United States Supreme Court to reinstall the 45th President and GOP frontrunner to the state ballot in 2024.READ THE FULL REPORT

Leo Terrell: Firing Harvard’s Claudine Gay Wouldn’t Be Racist, Keeping Her Would Be Civil rights lawyer Leo Terrell shared his thoughts on the ongoing drama surrounding Harvard President Dr. Claudine Gay.READ THE FULL REPORTLATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIESBill Gates & WEF Implicated in Global Depopulation Plot Explosive government documents have emerged that implicate Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum (WEF) in a plot to depopulate the planet.READ THE FULL REPORT Presidential Frontrunner Donald Trump Issues Scathing Rebuke of Jack Smith on Truth Social After SCOTUS Refuses to Play Democrat Reindeer Games In a major win for former President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court on Friday declined a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith to fast-track his criminal case centered on presidential immunity. The decision, which came days before oral arguments on Trump’s presidential immunity claims set for January 9th in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, was met with elation by …READ THE FULL REPORT Jack Smith Dealt Major Blow as Supreme Court Declines to Play Along with his Political Expediency Mission The United States Supreme Court apparently doesn’t want to fast track Jack Smith’s apparent mission to stop Donald Trump from getting back into the White House, even as polls show this as more and more likely. Kyle Cheney, Politico, and others are reporting on the matter on X: “BREAKING: Supreme Court docket reflects a *denial* of Jack Smith’s request for …READ THE FULL REPORT Former Attorney General Bill Barr: ‘Colorado Supreme Court Ruling Is Legally Wrong and Untenable’Former Attorney General Bill Barr has denounced the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling disqualifying Trump from the state’s ballot. Barr referred to the decision as a ‘Procedural Frankenstein,’ asserting that it lacks legal credibility and constitutional support. The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump’s involvement in the events of January 6 renders him ineligible for the presidency, citing the …READ THE FULL REPORT Former Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Claims ‘Conservative Christian Nationalists Are Now the New BLM’Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis identifies as a Republican and a Christian, yet she emphasizes that she does not align herself with Conservative Christian nationalism. In a surprising declaration on X (formerly known as Twitter), Ellis shared the following statement: “The Christian Nationalist crowd is the new BLM,” she wrote. “Both cheer tearing down statues and destroying property they don’t …READ THE FULL REPORT WEF: ‘ALL Humans Will Wear a Uniform’ by 2030 The World Economic Forum (WEF) has called for an end to individual fashion among the public and declared that “all humans will wear a uniform” before the year 2030.READ THE FULL REPORT

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES

MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK

END

7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES//ELECTRICAL GRID ISSUES// RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES//USA AND GLOBE

8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//

VENEZUELA/GUYANA/UK

At least the UK is showing some strength for Guyana against the tyrant (bus driver) Maduro

(zerohedge)

UK Deploys Warship To Guyana In Show Of Support Against Venezuela Territorial Claim

MONDAY, DEC 25, 2023 – 08:15 PM

While the recent panic over the risk of a Venezuela invasion of its neighbor Guyana may have come and gone, some (former) global superpowers are not taking any chances, and according to the FT, the UK will deploy a naval patrol ship off the coast of the tiny but rich Latin American nation in a show of support for the former British colony as it faces a territorial claim from its more powerful if insolvent communist neighbor.

The deployment follows moves by Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s socialist president, to claim the vast, mineral-rich Essequibo region, which borders his country but has been part of Guyana – a member of the British Commonwealth and the only English-speaking nation in South America – for more than a century.

Britain’s decision to dispatch HMS Trent later this month is a significant show of support for the government in Guyana’s capital Georgetown.

The decision comes just days after the UK’s new foreign secretary, David Cameron, fresh from career exile after his catastrophic handling of Brexit, said the UK would “continue to work with partners in the region to ensure the territorial integrity of Guyana is upheld and prevent escalation”.

Meanwhile, UK foreign office minister David Rutley, visited Guyana last week to meet President Irfaan Ali and stress the UK government’s “unequivocal backing” for Guyana’s territorial integrity after the Venezuelan claim.

Yván Gil, Venezuela’s foreign minister, responded angrily on social media platform X to that visit, saying: “The former invading and enslaving empire, which illegally occupied the territory of [Essequibo] and acted in an skilful and sneaky manner against the interests of Venezuela, insists on intervening in a territorial controversy that they themselves generated.

“This controversy will be resolved directly between the parties . . . We will stop the new filibustering that seeks to destabilise the region.”

As reported earlier this month, Maduro held a referendum at the start of December, in which Caracas claimed that more than 95% supported proposals including that Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana, should become a Venezuelan state.

Caracas subsequently authorised Venezuelan state-run companies to grant licences for exploration and exploitation in Essequibo and ordered new official maps including the territory, although the presidents of both countries agreed in a December 15 meeting not to use force in the dispute.

HMS Trent, which is armed with a cannon and machine guns, has a crew of 65 and a contingent of Royal Marines, and can deploy Merlin helicopters.

The vessel, which is mostly used for counter-terrorism exercises and tackling piracy and smuggling, is usually based around the Mediterranean. However, in early December it was deployed west to Barbados to clamp down on drug runners in the Caribbean.

UK officials told the FT that the ship would anchor off the coast of Georgetown and carry out visits, training and joint activities with the country’s navy.

Guyana’s defence force, with only 4,070 active personnel and reserves, is dwarfed by Venezuela’s 351,000-strong military which feels especially powerful now that Biden will do anything to appease dictator Maduro if it means a buffer of oil supply heading into the critical 2024 election year.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “HMS Trent will visit regional ally and Commonwealth partner Guyana later this month as part of a series of engagements in the region during her Atlantic patrol task deployment.”

END

YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING

EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.1011 DOWN .0008

USA/ YEN 142.49 UP 0.198 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//

GBP/USA 1.2646 DOWN .0017

USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3247 DOWN .0007 (CDN DOLLAR UP 7 BASIS PTS)

Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 19.93 PTS OR 0.34%

Hang Seng CLOSED

AUSTRALIA CLOSED // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL MOSTLY GREEN

Trading from Europe and ASIA

I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL MOSTLY GREEN

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG

/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 19.93 PTS OR 0.23%

AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED

(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 51.82 PTS OR 0.16%

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 2061.65

silver:$24.35

USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 101.40 UP 6 BASIS POINTS FROM FRIDAY’s CLOSE.

TUESDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And now your closing TUESDAY NUMBERS 11: 30 AM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 2.665% UP 1/2 in basis point(s) yield

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.637% UP 1 AND 4//100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.886 UP 1/3 in basis points yield

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.544 DOWN 0 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 1.9775 UP 1 BASIS PTS

END

IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR TUESDAY

Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM

Euro/USA 1.1026 UP 0.0007 or 7 basis points

USA/Japan: 142.54 UP 0.289 OR YEN DOWN 29 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.2704 UP .0009 OR 9 BASIS POINTS //

Canadian dollar UP .0044 OR 44 BASIS pts to 1.3204

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED (DOWN) …7.1438

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)…. (7.1464)

TURKISH LIRA: 29.32 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.637…VERY DANGEROUS

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN1 in basis points from FRIDAY at 3.898% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic

USA 30 yr bond yield 4.048 DOWN 2 in basis points ON THE DAY/12.00 PM

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.371 UP 3 BASIS PTS.

Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: TUESDAY: CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM

London: CLOSED

German Dax : CLOSED

Paris CAC CLOSED

Spain IBEX CLOSED

Italian MIB: CLOSED

WTI Oil price 75,40 12: EST

Brent Oil: 81,06 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 91.71; ROUBLE UP 0 AND 6//100

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +1.9775 UP 1 BASIS PTS

UK 10 YR YIELD: 3.527 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA: 1.1044 UP 0.0025 OR 25 BASIS POINTS

British Pound: 1.2729 UP .0027 or 27 basis pts

BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 3.52505% DOWN 1 BASIS PTS//

JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.633%

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 142.40 UP 0.162 //YEN DOWN 16 BASIS PTS//

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3200 DOWN 0.0050 CDN dollar UP 50 basis pts)

West Texas intermediate oil: 75.32

Brent OIL: 80.76

USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 2 BASIS pts to 3.893%

USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 1 BASIS PTS to 4.046%

USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 1/8 PTS AT 4.350 %

USA dollar index: 101.12 DOWN 22 BASIS POINTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 29.15 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/

USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 91.66 UP 0 AND 9/100 roubles

GOLD 2066.40 3:30 PM

SILVER: 24.22 3:30 PM

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 159.36 % PTS OR 0.43%

NASDAQ UP 101.06 PTS OR 0.60%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 12.97 DOWN .06 PTS 0.46%

GLD: $191.72 UP 1.45 OR 0.72%

SLV/ $22.20 UP .08 OR 0.36%

end

USA AFFAIRS

TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM:

‘Biggest Losers’, Bullion, & Black Gold All Bid On Boxing Day

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 04:00 PM

The S&P 500 is now up over 15% since October 27th. And the Santa rally markets have been experiencing since just before Thanksgiving continues even after he dropped his presents around the world on Monday and faces the Boxing Day hangover.

As Goldman’s Chris Hussey notes, a combination of…

strong consumer spending in stores (12/14 – Retail sales accelerate in November on sequential basis),
a rapid deceleration of inflation (12/22 – Core PCE Inflation falls further), and
a dovish tilt from the Fed (12/13 FOMC dots and the market shrugging off the post-FOMC jawboning)

…have all contributed to an extremely market-friendly backdrop for stocks – especially when you consider that US growth remains resilient as captured by the strong November labor reports.

Today’s economic data only added to the favorable narrative. The S&P Case-Shiller home price index increased in line with consensus expectations in October. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index jumped back above trend, the Philly Fed Services survey soared back into expansion, and the Dallas Fed manufacturing index for December came in higher than expected.

Source: Bloomberg

Small Caps continued to explode higher today, significantly outperforming the rest of the US majors today (which all managed solid 0.5%-ish gains) amid a low liquidity holiday week. Some late-day selling spoiled the party though…

‘Most Shorted’ stocks surged back up to erase last Wednesday’s 0-DTE-driven pukefest…

Source: Bloomberg

The previous biggest losers continue to dominate the gains as financial conditions have eased dramatically…

Source: Bloomberg

And the dash for trash continues…

Source: Bloomberg

VIX was smashed lower to within a tick of a 12 handle…

Treasuries were unchanged on the day but not after selling pressure overnight which was erased after a strong 2Y auction…

Source: Bloomberg

The 2Y yield was the biggest swinger…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar dipped back to Friday’s lows amid very low liquidity in FX land…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin was clubbed like a baby seal, once again seeming stalling out around $44k…

Source: Bloomberg

Spot gold prices rallied back above $2060…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices surged today with WTI back above $76 for the first time since Dec 1st…

Which appears to have put a local low in the price of wholesale and retail gasoline…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, this is odd…

Source: Bloomberg

Americans are spending more despite being considerably less confident.

END

AFTERNOON TRADING//

TUCKER CARLSON

“It’s Disgusting What They’re Doing”: Tucker Carlson Describes Visit With Julian Assange

SATURDAY, DEC 23, 2023 – 12:15 PM

As Julian Assange approaches his ‘final’ appeal against extradition to the United States, where he faces some 18 counts related to the release of vast troves of damning and embarrassing evidence against the US government, the 52-year-old WikiLeaks founder received a visit from Tucker Carlson to discuss his situation.

Carlson describes Assange as “one of the greatest journalists of our age,” who has “spent his adult life bringing previously concealed facts to the public about what our leaders are doing.”

Perhaps most notably, Assange published internal emails from the Democratic National Committee, revealing among other things that the Hillary Clinton campaign conspired to cheat against rival Bernie Sanders. These leaks, claimed by Democrats to be Russian hacks, were actually internal leaks, according to Carlson.

What’s more, Carlson noted how a fabricated, media-amplified sexual assault charge in Sweden was used against Assange, who spent more than seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. And when he exposed the CIA’s spying apparatus, former CIA Director Mike Pompeo discussed kidnapping or assassinating him while not being charged with any crime in the US at the time.

Watch below as Carlson lays out the Assange situation…

Subscribers to the Tucker Carlson Network (which of course, everyone should be) can watch the rest of the segment, in which Carlson describes sitting down with Assange for around an hour (no cameras allowed). He also discusses the situation with Assange’s wife, Stella.

Highlights:

“We talked about why he is in prison, and my first question to him was: ‘what do you think this is actually about?’,” to which Assange replied that he “first became famous when WikiLeaks published documents and videos that the US government had kept secret from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were politically embarrassing to the Pentagon – but that wasn’t the red line. The red line was several years later, when WikiLeaks published information about surveillance by the CIA.“
“It’s a total outrage that they’re holding him, and he hasn’t even committed or been charged with a crime in this country.”
“The inmates are treated like animals. And he’s not an animal, he’s a journalist who has committed no crime. And so, anyone who’s in favor of that, anyone who supports his continued torture, is your enemy.”
“Assange looks like press photographs of him, maybe older, pale, he hasn’t been outside in 13 years…”

As Paul Craig Roberts notes, the Assange situation “shows conclusively that Washington regards truth as its most dangerous enemy.”

A country without a media cannot be free or have an accountable government. Americans who think that they live in a free country are completely deluded. They are pathetic.

We encourage you to jump over to Tucker’s site and watch the rest here.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/its-disgusting-what-theyre-doing-tucker-carlson-describes-visit-julian-assange

II USA DATA

Banks still stressed//Friday night

(zerohedge)

Large Bank Deposits Rise As Money-Market Outflows Accelerate, Small Banks Still Stressed

FRIDAY, DEC 22, 2023 – 04:40 PM

Yesterday we discovered that Regional bank shares have been soaring towards pre-SVB levels despite yet another huge increase to a new record high in the usage of The Fed’s bank bailout facility (now at $131BN)…

Source: Bloomberg

We also highlighted the significant ‘arb’ trade available to banks able to use this facility.

However, what was most notable was that money-market funds saw another weekly outflow, potentially setting us up for more deposit inflows at the banks.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis. total bank deposits rose for the second straight week, up $11.4BN…

Source: Bloomberg

Even more impressively, non-seasonally-adjusted, total bank deposits soared by $76BN (the 3rd straight week of inflows), practically back to pre-SVB levels…

Source: Bloomberg

Excluding foreign banks, domestic bank deposits rose $73BN (NSA) and $14.4BN (SA)…

Source: Bloomberg

Excluding foreign bank deposits that means the US banking system is only down $82BN (NSA) from the start of the SVB crisis…

Source: Bloomberg

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, Small banks saw a small $0.4BN deposit outflow, while Large banks saw $14,8BN inflows…

Source: Bloomberg

And while Small bank deposits have been rising (NSA), Large bank deposits are soaring (NSA)…

Source: Bloomberg

However, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, neither Small nor Large bank deposit bases have really moved for almost 5 months…

Source: Bloomberg

Are money-market outflows going to bank deposits…

Source: Bloomberg

On the other side of the ledger, Large bank loan volumes shrank for the second week in a row (-$7.5BN) while Small bank loan volumes rose by $5.5BN (5th week in a row of increased small bank loan volumes)…

Source: Bloomberg

As we warned last week, there is potential trouble brewing still as the key warning sign continues to trend ominously lower (Small Banks’ reserve constraint – blue line), supported above the critical level by The Fed’s emergency funds (for now)…

Source: Bloomberg

As the red line shows, without The Fed’s help, the crisis is back (and large bank cash needs a home – green line – like picking up a small bank from the FDIC).

All of which makes us wonder, are we setting up for another banking crisis in March as:

1) BTFP runs out (it was only a 12 month temporary program), and

2) RRP drains to zero, at which point reserves get yanked which means huge deposits flight.

Is that why The Fed needed to bring rates down massively and fast, to reduce the bond losses on banks’ books?

On that cheery note, Happy Christmas!

end

How Bankers Are Exploiting The Fed’s Bailout Program At Your Expense

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 11:40 AM

What’s going on with US banks?

After the rash of big bank failures in March, the Fed rolled out something called the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) to fill the void of FDIC’s coverage limitations.

What you need to know about the BTFP is that it’s code for socializing losses.

Over the last month, loans outstanding in the Federal Reserve bank bailout program increased by around $17.5BN. It was the second month we’ve seen borrowing from the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) surge. And the pace of borrowing is increasing.

Between December 13 and December 20, the balance in the BTFP grew by $7.6BN

As of Dec. 20, the balance in the BTFP stood at just over $131BN. It’s the largest balance since the program was created in March.

As SchiffGold’s Michael Maharrey notes, the increase in banks tapping into the BTFP started to re-accelerate in November. As you can see from the chart, borrowing had leveled off in August before the sudden spike in November. Keep in mind that banks were still tapping into the bailout even as the total balance in the program plateaued. Some banks were paying off loans as others borrowed.

This surge in bank bailout borrowing would seem to indicate more banks are struggling in this high interest rate environment, and the financial crisis that kicked off in March continues to boil under the surface.

But thanks to the Fed bailout, the crisis remains “out of sight, out of mind.”

But there’s more to this recent re-acceleration – which has occurred as rates have actually declined, inferring that losses on bank’s bond positions would have actually shrank.

As MN Gordon writes at EconomicPrism.com, like any ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ government program for the big banks, it is ripe for exploitation.

How Bankers are Exploiting the Fed’s BTFP at Your Expense

The BTFP offers loans up to one year to banks that pledge U.S. Treasuries and agency debt as collateral valued at par. The rate for these loans is the one-year overnight index swap rate plus 10 basis points.

To be clear, the BTFP has nothing to do with free market capitalism. It is an instrument of central planning, instituted by the Fed, to bail out the reckless decisions of its cohorts in the banking sector.

Yet rather than graciously accepting their gift, and the gift of forthcoming rate cuts, bankers are now exploiting the spread between the Fed’s overnight rate and the BTFP rate to line their pockets.

Expectations of a Powell pivot, and the recent decline in Treasury yields, have inadvertently delivered a unique arbitrage opportunity. Lou Crandall, of Wrightson ICAP, recently detailed the scam in a note to clients:

“At first glance, that 10 basis point markup might appear to qualify as the kind of penalty rate typically associated with ‘lender of last resort’ facilities. In practice, however, the BTFP pricing formula turns it into a subsidy rate when the yield curve is downward sloping.

“The drop in BTFP borrowing costs means that there’s a larger arbitrage for banks to take advantage of, where institutions borrow from the facility [BTFP] and then park the proceeds in their account at the Fed to earn interest on reserve balances – currently 5.40 percent. That spread is currently 44 basis points after jumping to 51 basis points on Dec. 14.”

This rate-arbitrage subsidy for banks, made possible by playing Fed policy and Fed programs off of each other, is free money for bankers.

The current arb is at its highest at 56bps as The Fed’s jawboning pulls OIS lower.

The deadline for new BTFP loans expires on March 11, 2024. But, alas, like the advent of quantitative easing in 2008, these programs – and the moral hazards they provoke – never go away.

The Fed’s future playbook has been revealed. When the next liquidity crisis arrives in 2024, perhaps from the impending commercial real estate apocalypse, the Fed will be poised to deliver its next iteration of the BTFP.

And, once again, bankers will line their pockets at your expense.

US Home Prices Surged For 9th Straight Month In October, Led By Miami

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 09:10 AM

Home prices in America’s 20 largest cities rose for the 9th straight month in October (the latest data released by S&P Global Case-Shiller today), up 0.64% MoM (slightly better than the +0.60% MoM expected).

That pushed the YoY rise in prices up 4.87% – the fastest pace since Dec ’22…

Source: Bloomberg

…but as the chart shows the MoM gains are slowing rapidly.

“U.S. home prices accelerated at their fastest annual rate of the year in October”, says Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital assets at S&P DJI.

“We are experiencing broad based home price appreciation across the country, with steady gains seen in nineteen of twenty cities.”

Miami and Detroit saw the biggest MoM gains while the West Coast dominated the MoM price declines with San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle worst.

But, judging by the resumption of the rise of mortgage rates since the Case-Shiller data was created, we would expect prices to also resume their decline…

Source: Bloomberg

So prices are up, mortgage rates are actually falling again now (lagged)… so The Fed is re-blowing the same bubble?

end

III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES

Seems that Delta airlines is transporting illegal immigrants around the country

(zerohedge)

Gaetz Demands Transparency From Delta CEO After Viral Posts About Illegal Immigrants

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 07:20 AM

Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has raised national security concerns about Delta Air Lines’ role in transporting illegal immigrants from the U.S. southern border into the country’s interior without being “properly vetted.”

In a letter to Delta CEO Ed Bastion on Friday, Mr. Gaetz urged transparency regarding arrangements between the airline, federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) facilitating transportation.

“It has recently come to my attention that Delta Air Lines is transporting non-resident aliens from the southern border of the United States into the interior of the country,” Mr. Gaetz wrote. “The United States Congress has an interest in understanding pursuant to which arrangements with federal agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) non-resident aliens are able to book and travel on Delta Air Lines flights.”

Sparked by claims in viral social media posts, Mr. Gaetz cited national security concerns around NGOs that receive taxpayer funds buying flights for illegal immigrants who have not been vetted and who seem to be boarding flights without proper identification.

These concerns were also put to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday. Mr. Cruz sought information about the screening procedures for illegal immigrants crossing the border via the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “CBP One” app and being helped onto flights to the country’s interior from southern border locations.

‘Alarming’

In his letter to the Delta Air Lines boss, Mr. Gaetz said, “As you are likely aware, certain NGOs receive federal grants, including through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program and Shelter and Services Program, making it possible that these NGOs are using federal money to purchase flights for non-resident aliens on Delta Air Lines.”

The Republican congressman echoed Mr. Cruz, saying it was “alarming” that American taxpayers are paying for illegal immigrants to fly around the country from the U.S. southern border who “may not be properly vetted.”

“Therefore, I am concerned the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) may be allowing nonresident aliens to board flights, including those operated by Delta Air Lines, with an alternate form of identification that meets a weaker standard than that used to verify the identities of American citizens when they fly,” he added.

Mr. Gaetz sought answers from Ms. Bastion to the following questions:

How many nonresident aliens has Delta Ait Lines transported on behalf of governmental or nongovernmental organizations since January 20, 2021?
How do NGOs purchase or reimburse your airlines for the tickets of non-resident aliens?
Are you now receiving, or have you ever received, any incentive to reimbursement, including money, credit, or other benefits from the federal government, in exchange for the transport of nonresident aliens?
Has the TSA notified you of what forms of identification are acceptable for nonresident aliens to clear airport security and board your flights? If so, what are they?

The Epoch Times contacted Delta Air Lines for comment.

Viral Claims

The issue first came to light on Dec. 19 in a viral post on X, formerly Twitter, by conservative commentator Ashley St. Clair.

“My Delta flight from Phoenix appears to be flying migrants who crossed the border and are being shipped to New York,” Ms. St. Clair wrote in a post that included a video of herself at the boarding gate.

Ms. St. Clair said that when she queried the matter with “a Delta representative,” he responded by saying, “What does it matter, they’re humans too.”

The situation raised questions for the commentator, who wrote: “What is happening???? Are taxpayer dollars paying for this????”

Following Ms. St. Clair’s post, other reporters have posted on X about similarly boarding flights filled with illegal immigrants reportedly released by CBP into the country and flying onwards.

On Dec. 22, Fox News reporter Bill Melugin shared a photo on X of illegal immigrants standing in dedicated security lines at the airport in Tuscon, Arizona. He wrote that the terminal “is full of illegal immigrants released into the U.S. with their DHS paperwork.”

While flying out of Laredo, Texas, that same day, Tenet Media reporter Taylor Hansen said that “almost every person in the airport is an illegal migrant” and that an “@AmericanAir rep told me more illegal migrants fly out of this airport on a daily basis than Americans.”

In a follow-up post on Dec. 22, Ms. St. Clair said she was “in possession of legitimate major airline boarding passes for migrants that quite literally have the name printed as ‘NO NAME GIVEN.'” She did not specify which airline.

The Epoch Times viewed a photo of one such boarding pass from another major airline with “NO NAME GIVEN” dated April, with other identifying information redacted, indicating this has been an ongoing issue only recently brought to light.

Two-Tiered Security

In Mr. Cruz’s letter to the DHS secretary, the potential for terrorists to take advantage of gaps in the CBP One app’s identification system was chief among the concerns he expressed, in addition to an apparent two-tiered security standard for American citizens and illegal immigrants.

Ahead of arriving at the southern U.S. border, migrants can upload a facial photo, their name, and date of birth. Upon arrival, migrants without a passport are routinely paroled, allowing them into the country based on the name they provide.

The problem with this system, Mr. Cruz noted, is that agencies like TSA and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “later rely on the unverified CBP One data as if it were verified.

“For example, if the paroled alien later tries to fly out of a U.S. airport, TSA may use his unverified name and date of birth in CBP One to verify his identity, even though the person may in fact be a terrorist or other criminal traveling under a fake identity,” the Republican senator from Texas wrote.

His letter to Mr. Mayorkas also pointed out an apparent two-tiered standard that requires American citizens to prove identification to fly while illegal immigrants are boarding flights on trust alone.

“While Americans must present an acceptable form of identification to fly, or at least have their identities confirmed, TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is permitting illegal aliens without ID to opt for an alternate identity verification process utilizing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ‘CBP One’ app,” Mr. Cruz wrote.

He noted to Mr. Mayorkas that the process “takes illegal aliens at their word,” in the process of being furnished with DHS documents that allow them to board flights at airports.

“In effect, TSA is applying one standard for verifying the identities of American citizens, and another, weaker standard for ‘verifying’ the identities of illegal aliens. This is alarming,” Mr. Cruz wrote.

The United States has been granting parole to approximately 1,600 migrants daily through ports of entry, facilitated by the CBP One app. This app enables migrants to submit photos and relevant information, as well as arrange appointments with CBP officers.

END

IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM

Lefties!

“Christmas Is Canceled”: Scuffles, Arrests In NYC As Pro-Palestinian Protesters Storm Manhattan

MONDAY, DEC 25, 2023 – 10:55 PM

Pro-Palestinian protesters raged across New York City on Monday, apparently determined to piss Christians off on their most sacred holiday.

“Christmas is canceled here,” they chanted, while parading a blood-red mock nativity scene through the streets, along with puppets of Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.

“Long live the intifada,” the roughly 500 demonstrators yelled as they swarmed the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree where people were trying to enjoy the day.

“While Ur Shopping Bombs are Dropping,” read one protester’s sign.

“No Joy In Genocide,” read the mock Nativity scene, the NY Post reports.

As night fell, the protest intensified. Near St. Patrick’s Cathedral, scuffles broke out, sending police officers dashing through the crowd in an effort to maintain order. Reports of arrests came from areas near Grand Central Station and Union Square, as tensions between protesters and law enforcement escalated.

The Christmas Day demonstration targeting the Manhattan area popular with holiday revelers and tourists prompted cops to go on alert outside the News Corp headquarters on Sixth Avenue.

The building is home to Fox News, The Post, the Wall Street Journal and other company holdings.

Protesters have targeted the media company in the past, including twice last month.

On Nov. 29, hundreds of demonstrators — at least one spotted carrying a swastika — stormed the Sixth Avenue building after police blocked them from Rockefeller Center during a well-organized “Flood the Tree Lighting for Gaza” protest. -NY Post

This demonstration was not an isolated incident but the latest in a series of anti-Israel marches that have swept through New York City.

Maybe trying to ruin Christmas in New York isn’t the best way to garner sympathy for your cause?

end

FREIGHT ISSUES/USA

END

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

end

USA// COVID//VACCINE/

end

SWAMP STORIES

Supreme Court Rules Against Special Counsel, Will Not Expedite Trump Immunity Clash

FRIDAY, DEC 22, 2023 – 02:35 PM

The Supreme Court’s new docket just dropped, notably without expedited consideration of Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in his 2020 election interference case – a critical question which will determine whether he can be put on trial for trying to overturn the results of the last presidential election.

The one-sentence order, with no noted dissents, means that a federal appeals court in Washington will be the first to review a district judge’s ruling earlier this month which rejected Trump’s claim of immunity – with arguments scheduled to begin Jan. 9.

The move (or lack thereof) comes eight days after the USSC agreed to consider whether to expedite consideration of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s petition to short-circuit the appeals court and immediately weigh in on Trump’s claim of presidential immunity to try and have the case tossed.Smith argued that public interest required intervention now so that his well-timed case against the former president could proceed as scheduled in March.

“This case involves — for the first time in our Nation’s history — criminal charges against a former President based on his actions while in office,” Smith said in his filing, requesting the abnormally fast review. “And not just any actions: alleged acts to perpetuate himself in power by frustrating the constitutionally prescribed process for certifying the lawful winner of an election.”

Trump’s attorneys, on the other hand, argued that the case was too important to be rushed, and that Smith was doing the bidding of Joe Biden’s reelection campaign – saying that the special counsel “confuses the ‘public interest’ with the manifest partisan interest in ensuring that President Trump will be subjected to a months-long criminal trial at the height of a presidential campaign where he is the leading candidate and the only serious opponent of the current Administration.”

“The combination of an almost three-year wait to bring this case and the Special Counsel’s current demand for extraordinary expedition, supported by the vaguest of justifications, creates a compelling inference of partisan motivation,” Trump lawyer D. John Sauer wrote.

The move comes after Trump appealed an appeals court judge’s rejection of that argument.

As The Reactionary noted last week;

The setting of Trump’s DC trial for the spring of 2024 – conveniently scheduled one day before the Super Tuesday primaries – was undoubtedly the result of a shared interest between the Special Counsel and the presiding judge, Tanya Chutkan: to convict Donald Trump before the 2024 election. Moreover, given the 11+ million pages of documents involved in this case, the hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of video and audio, and the hundreds of witnesses, the accelerated trial date was a violation of Trump’s Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, which includes the opportunity to prepare for trial.

The Special Counsel’s DC case against Trump comprises novel legal theories that have never been tried in American courts, most notably whether Presidential challenges to an election can be criminalized under the United States code. The attorneys for Trump have filed lengthy and well thought-out motions, reasoning that the Constitution and the doctrine of presidential immunity required dismissal of this criminal case. Judge Chutkan denied each one in her desire for a quick trial.

This is the last thing Smith wanted…

END

THE KING REPORT

GREG HUNTER INTERVIEWING ALEX NEWMAN

UN Goal to Destroy West with CO2 & Education Scams

UN Goal to Destroy West with CO2 & Education Scams

By Greg Hunter On December 23, 2023 In Political Analysis32 Comments

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (Saturday Night Post)

Award-winning journalist Alex Newman, author of the popular book “Deep State,” is back from the recent so-called COP28 conference in Dubai, UAE. Newman continues to report on the not-so-secret plan to destroy everything in America by pushing scams on the West in energy and education. Let’s start with what Newman calls the “scam” of CO2 reduction. Newman explains, “The thing that really jumped out at me with this whole UN COP28 summit, my big take away . . . is they were talking about fazing out carbon emissions and fazing out fossil fuels, but that’s just for the suckers in the Western world. That’s just the United States under Joe Biden. That’s just for European Union under their treacherous leaders. The communist Chinese, the Arab dictatorships, the Russians and all the different socialist kleptocracies, they were literally making oil deals at this summit. That’s not my opinion, speculation or even exaggeration. We have the leaked documents showing the COP28 President, which was held by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) . . . that show they were plotting to make oil deals with Beijing. They were plotting to make oil deals with the Columbians. They were plotting to do oil and gas deals off the coast of Africa. So, on the one hand, the Western media and the United Nations are telling Westerners that you need to dismantle your energy systems. You need to stop all your coal fired power plants. Biden said he wanted to get rid of methane emissions. . . . That would take out all the natural gas plants and take out 60% of our power generation in the United States. The Arabs, communist Chinese and the globalists are laughing all the way to the bank. They are not really working on fazing out oil or fazing out fossil fuels. They are working on fazing out the Western world, which is also known as Christendom or the ‘Free World.’”

While Newman was there, he saw several U.S. Senators at the conference. Newman said, “I confronted multiple U.S. Senators about this. I said, hey, the communist Chinese are bringing two new coal fired power plants on line every single week. The Chinese CO2 emissions are massively larger than the entire Western world combined. Are you saying we need to jump off a cliff and beg the Chinese to jump after us? And the response was basically, yeah, we are going to ask them real nice. Give me a break. They all understand this is a scam. They want to deindustrialize the Western world. They want to shift economic and, ultimately, military power away from the United States and what used to be known as the ‘Free World’ towards the other pole in this multipolar world order that they are building, especially Beijing. The third world kleptocracies are going to play ball with the New World Order. . . . John Kerry (who was at the COP28 conference) says, ‘Nothing can stop this transformation. This is the biggest transformation in human history. Nothing and nobody can stop it.’ The United Nations had all these billboards and placards in Dubai that said the transformation was unstoppable. . . . All I can think of when they are saying this stuff, and I am seeing all the billboards, is that is very similar to what they said when they launched the Titanic. . . . The Bible says, ‘Pride goes before the fall.’ We will see about that, but they certainly want the people in the world to believe this is unstoppable.”

Newman is especially worried about what the UN has planned for education and brainwashing the children of the world. Newman says, “We actually got there on the COP28 ‘Education Day.’ The first ad I saw said ‘Education Transformation COP28.’ This was a huge part of the festivities. They are openly telling us that they are going to brainwash the next generation of Americans, Germans, Japanese, South Koreans and the West to believe this hoax with all their heart. . . . The brainwashing of our children and the dumbing down of our children is the most significant weapon in their arsenal. They will never be able to get this to pass unless they can brainwash enough of our children. . . . We’ve got to protect our kids. If we don’t stop the brain washing of our kids, it’s all over.”

There is much more in the 38-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with hard-hitting journalist Alex Newman, founder of LibertySentinel.org and author of the new book called “Indoctrinating Our Children to Death.” Newman is back to report on what he saw at the demonic anti-America UN COP28 conference in Dubai, UAE, for 12.23.23.

(To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here)

UN Goal to Destroy West with CO2 & Education Scams

After the Interview:

To pre-order Newman’s new book called “Indoctrinating Our Children to Death,” click here.

SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY//27TH OF DECEMBER

Shanghai Gold Benchmark Gold Price in USD – AM Fix

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR DEC/2023. CONTRACT: 191 NOTICES FOR 19,100 OZ or 0.5940 TONNES

total notices so far: 15,049 contracts for 1,504,900 oz (46.808 tonnes)

FOR DEC:

SILVER NOTICES 17 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 85,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 3891 for 19,455,000 oz

The Christmas Gift That Keeps On Taking

THE ENGINE RUNNING THE BIGGEST GOVERNMENT IN HISTORY

China sidelines its once-venerated central bank

No takers for Indian rupees as payment for oil imports

Futures, Oil Rise In Thin Post-Holiday Session

Over 200 Hamas terrorists arrested in past week, IDF and Shin Bet says

Troops kill dozens of Hamas gunmen in north Gaza, IDF says; 200 arrested in past week

Army says it intentionally caused dozens of gunmen to flee into building used as command center, then called in an airstrike; rockets target south for first time in nearly 48 hours

IDF’s Yiftach reserve brigade eliminates dozens of terrorists in ambush

IDF says 14 soldiers killed over weekend amid heavy fighting in south, central Gaza

153 troops killed since start of ground op; military says chief of supplies for Hamas armed wing killed in Rafah strike; 30,000 explosive weapons captured since start of war

Israeli soldier killed by deadly fungi infection suffered in Gaza – report

Over the course of the IDF’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, at least 10 soldiers have been diagnosed with several infections suffered during fighting.

IDF to examine whether infections originated in Hamas tunnels

IDF targeting Hamas in central Gaza, battling terror group’s al-Bureij battalion

Lebanon PM: Ready to implement UN measure for Hezbollah to disarm if Israel leaves disputed areas

IDF completes extensive wave of attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israel’s Military Strikes Hezbollah Command Center In Serious Escalation

Top Iranian commander killed in alleged Israeli airstrike on Syria

Iranian state-owned media confirmed the death of IRGC commander Seyed Razi Mousavi, identified as “a senior advisor” in Syria.

Top Iranian commander killed identified as Sayyed Razi Mousavi

Israel expects response to killing of senior Iranian commander – report

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli fighter jets are flying openly over Lebanon as Hezbollah is being hit “very hard” by the IDF.

Gallant: Israeli fighter jets flying openly over Lebanon

Drone strike hits Israeli ship off India’s coast, maritime agencies say

Khamenei urges Muslim countries to stop fuel reaching Israel * After UNSC vote, UN chief slams Hamas, says IDF offensive causing aid obstacles * Army kills dozens of Gaza gunmen

TV report: Israel believes drone fired at tanker off India was launched directly from Iran

Yemen/USA/RED SEA/HOUTHIS

Container Ships In Red Sea All But Disappear As Key Trade Route Freezes

Iran shows it can strike ships at long distance in Indian Ocean

Iran backs the Houthis in attacks on ships and expands the area it threatens.

Sign of Iran’s growing confidence

US retaliates in Iraq after three US troops wounded in attack

US Destroys 3 Militant Bases In Iraq After Multiple Americans Wounded In Christmas Day Attacks

IDF confirms Hezbollah anti-tank missile hit Greek Orthodox church in northern Israel

96% Of Saudis Oppose Ties With Israel, Hamas Grows In Popularity: Poll

Egypt’s Al Qahera News TV: explosions heard in skies of Red Sea city of Dahab

Trap of Gaza: Why Rafah is the city that could lead Israel and Egypt to conflict

Despite the focus on Khan Yunis, Rafah, surprisingly, emerges as a more intricate trap, as the conflict there poses significant challenges on multiple levels.

Implications on international level

Car belonging to abducted hostage found in Gaza hospital

About the Indonesian Hospital

Operational Update

Quoted

What I’m reading

Putin Now Serious About Negotiating End To War: Diplomats

Ukraine ‘Celebrates’ Destruction Of Major Russian Navy Vessel In Rare Crimea Air Raid

GLOBAL VACCINE/COVID ISSUES

published by academic medical journals are pure utter garbage, junk and especially during COVID; pure specious tripe & researchers know it and the journal editors; academic medical publishing is DEAD

“Publish or Perish” Policy Leading to Increase in Fake Scientific Papers

which is half burden seasonal flu, COVID entirely spared our children unlike flu that kills them, median age of death 83, > than 79 life-expect; had we done nothing, NO ONE would have NOTICED

What would kill a healthy 30 year old pilot suddenly? Why so many pilots incapacitated and dying? We know most likely took the vaccine as had to in order to work as a pilot; Makis’s scholarship below

per-person on healthcare than other nations especially other 1st world richer countries, yet we have much shorter life expectancy! Why? As we spend more, life expectancy goes down in US? How?

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES

MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK

UK Deploys Warship To Guyana In Show Of Support Against Venezuela Territorial Claim

‘Biggest Losers’, Bullion, & Black Gold All Bid On Boxing Day

“It’s Disgusting What They’re Doing”: Tucker Carlson Describes Visit With Julian Assange

Large Bank Deposits Rise As Money-Market Outflows Accelerate, Small Banks Still Stressed

How Bankers Are Exploiting The Fed’s Bailout Program At Your Expense

How Bankers are Exploiting the Fed’s BTFP at Your Expense

US Home Prices Surged For 9th Straight Month In October, Led By Miami

Gaetz Demands Transparency From Delta CEO After Viral Posts About Illegal Immigrants

‘Alarming’

Viral Claims

Two-Tiered Security

“Christmas Is Canceled”: Scuffles, Arrests In NYC As Pro-Palestinian Protesters Storm Manhattan

Supreme Court Rules Against Special Counsel, Will Not Expedite Trump Immunity Clash

UN Goal to Destroy West with CO2 & Education Scams

Share this:

Related

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Donate

Archive